People

Kieran ("KEER-in") McNulty

(he/him/his)

Professor, Department of Anthropology
384 Hubert H. Humphrey Center
University of Minnesota
kmcnulty [at] umn [dot] edu

KMMA-CAITHS REACHE

graduate students

ABBEY ("AB-ee") HALL
(she/her/hers)

Abbey's work concerns the composition of fossil mammal communities as it reflects environmental, chronologic, and biogeographic factors. She is focusing on Early Miocene mammals from Rusinga and Mfangano Islands to interpret their evolving community structures over ca. 3 million years of fossiliferous sediments in that geological sequence.

SAMUEL ("SAM-wel") MUTETI
(he/him/his)

Samuel's research focuses on evolution of crown hominoids at Middle Miocene fossil sites in the Nyanza Rift of Kenya. He directs research at several sites in the Nyakach and Maboko Formations, and is a Co-PI at Kisingiri sites, Maboko Island, and Fort Ternan. Samuel is also acting Head of Paleontology at the National Museums of Kenya.

PENINA ("pə-NEE-nuh") KADALIDA
(she/her/hers)

Penina is interested in the factors that cause anatomical variation in species of early Homo (H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, H. erectus). She is in the process of formulating her overall approach to studying this complex topic and will be developing her dissertation proposal over the next six months. Penina is co-advised by Dr. Martha Tappen.

EMMANUEL ("ee-MAN-yoo-el") NGETICH
(he/him/his)

Emmanuel is aiming to research migration patterns and genetic variation in eastern African populations from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. He is co-advised by Dr. Maria Nieves Colón and will be developing his research proposal over the next few years focusing on populations in western Kenya.

RISA ("REE-suh") LUTHER
(she/her/hers)

Risa's interests center on catarrhine adaptive evolution, focusing on dietary signals inferable across the adult lifespan of an organism. Her research combines dental topographic analysis with surface shape segmentation to differentiate macroscopic tooth wear associated with distinct dietary behaviors.

MADELAINE ("MAD-ə-lin") WALKER
(she/her/hers)

Madelaine's interests relate to the interactions among diet, life history, and environment, and what they can tell us about primate paleobiology. She is currently developing her dissertation research topic around a theme of comparative life histories in Early Miocene catarrhines.

AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS
(shesɪz/hersɪz/theirsɪz)

The primary area of research for Shillelagh (shə-LAY-lee) and Saoirse (SEER-shə) is small mammal behavior, focusing particularly on Sciduridae and Leporidae. They secondarily specialize in early warning mechanisms for defense against hostile elements such as deer, plastic bags, and neighbors.

undergraduate researchers

YOUR FACE HERE?

McNulty Lab doesn't currently have any active undergraduate researchers. If you're interested in the kind of work we're doing then get in touch! We'd love to hear about your interests and goals.