Scott A. Williams
Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2011); M.A. Northern Illinois University (2006); B.A. Kent State University (2003)
Office Address: Rufus D. Smith Hall, 25 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10003
Areas of Research/Interest
Biological anthropology; postcranial morphology; positional behavior; origins of orthogrady and bipedalism; evolution of the vertebral column; mammalian phylogenetics; longevity.
Associated with other departments or programs
Center for the Study of Human Origins
Publications
Peer-reviewed publications and theses
2011. Williams, S.A. Evolutionary history of the hominoid vertebral column: the long and short of it. Journal of Human Evolution. Accepted, under revision.
2011. Williams, S.A. Evolution of the hominoid vertebral column. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL.
2010. Williams, S.A. Morphological Integration and the evolution of knuckle-walking. Journal of Human Evolution 58, 432-440.
2010. Polk J.D., Williams S.A., Peterson J.V., Roseman C.C., Godfrey L.R. Subchondral bone apparent density and locomotor behavior in extant primates and subfossil lemurs Hadropithecus and Pachylemur. International Journal of Primatology 31, 275-299.
2010. Shattuck M.R., Williams S.A. Arboreality has allowed for the evolution of increased longevity in mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 4635-4639.
2009. Polk J.D., Williams S.A., Peterson J.V. Body size and joint posture in primates. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140, 359-367.
2006. Williams, S.A. Anatomical variation in the hand and wrist of African apes: evidence for a single origin of knuckle-walking adaptations. M.A. thesis, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL.
Presentations at professional conferences
2011. Williams S.A. Evolutionary history of the hominoid vertebral formula. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 52, 257.
2011. Roseman C.C., Williams S.A., Grabowski M.W., O'Connor C., Cheverud J., Polk J.D. A genotype- phenotype map of a mammalian pelvis using a mouse model. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 52, 312-313.
2010. Williams S.A. Morphological integration and the knuckle-walking “complex”: implications for the evolution of knuckle-walking and bipedalism. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 50, 244.
2010. Williams S.A. Numerical composition of the vertebral column: implications for hominoid evolution. Midwest Primate Interest Group, Chicago, IL. Podium presentation.
2009. Williams S.A. Modularity in the hominoid vertebral column: implications for the evolution of orthogrady. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 47, 426.
2009. Shattuck M.R., Williams S.A. The influence of arboreality on longevity in mammals: a test of the evolutionary theory of aging. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 47, 366.
2008. Williams S.A., Grabowski M.W., Polk J.D., Roseman C.C. Phenotypic integration and evolution in the African ape third manual ray. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 46, 223.
2008. Grabowski M.W., Williams S.A., Roseman C.C., Polk J.D. Phenotypic integration in the macaque postcranial skeleton. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 46, 106.
2008. Polk J.D., Peterson J., Williams S.A. Sexual dimorphism, body size, and joint posture in primates. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 46, 173.
2008. Williams S.A., Shattuck M.R. Arboreality and longevity in mammals. Midwest Primate Interest Group, Notre Dame, IN. Podium presentation.
2006. Williams S.A. Variation in the African ape third manual ray. Midwest Primate Interest Group, Urbana, IL. Podium presentation.
Current News / Projects
updated August 2011
I am a new faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. I spent the last year working on my dissertation, titled "Evolution of the Hominoid Vertebral Column" at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where I received my Ph.D. in August of 2011. Over the last year, I traveled to a number of museums and collections in both the U.S. and Europe to conduct research related to my dissertation and to other projects, including one on morphological integration and evolvability in the primate postcranium. Part of this research complements my lab work on mouse quantitative genetics in the Roseman Lab at the University of Illinois over the last year.
A large portion of my dissertation is dedicated to the numerical composition and evolutionary history of the mammalian vertebral column. As such, I examined thousands of mammal skeletons from both extant and fossil specimens, including the recently discovered partial skeletons of Australopithecus sediba from the Malapa site in South Africa. In my dissertation, I test and challenge a hypothesis underlying the interpretation of another fossil specimen, Ardipithecus ramidus, with implications for human evolution and the tempo and mode of hominoid evolution in general.
I have also worked on an ongoing life history project concerned with the evolution of longevity. In the first iteration of the project, published last year (with Milena Shattuck) and titled, "Arboreality has allowed for the evolution of increased longevity in mammals," we showed that arboreal mammals tend to demonstrate greater longevities, or longer maximal lifespans, than their terrestrial counterparts. We have since compiled corresponding brain size data, and intend to test hypotheses concerning the co-evolution of longevity and encephalization, with implications for primate origins and human evolution.
