Carol V. Ward, Ph.D.
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Professor of Pathology & Anatomical Sciences
phone: 573-882-0858 (office); 573-882-8909 (lab)
email: wardcv@missouri.edu
web: http://web.missouri.edu/~wardcv/
Biographical sketch
Degrees:
B.Sc. Anthropology and Zoology, University of Michigan
Ph.D. Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Academic appointments:
2006-present
Professor, University of Missouri, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, College of Medicine
1998-2006
Associate Professor, joint appointment in of Anthropology, College of Arts and Science, and Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, of Medicine
1991-1998
Assistant Professor, University of Missouri, joint appointment in Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Science, and Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, College of Medicine
1990-present
Research Associate, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, OH
Interests:
- ape and human evolution
- locomotion
- functional morphology
- vertebral anatomy
- mechanics
Research description
Dr. Ward is interested in the evolution of humans and our closest relatives, apes and monkeys. Her research focuses on fossils from East and South Africa, primarily Kenya. She takes a mechanical approach to the interpretation of the postcranial skeleton, and uses these principles to reconstruct the behavior of extinct animals. Her overall research goal is to understand human origins.
One of Dr. Ward's current areas of research involves studying a great radiation of apes that lived in the early Miocene (about 18 million years ago). She is studying the evolution of their postcranial body plan, particularly the torso, to reconstruct their locomotor behaviors and the evolutionary history of the apes. She is working on a new fossil pelvis of the last Miocene ape Rudapithecus hungaricus, and applying novel 3D CAD non-landmark based quantitative analyses to compare its form with those of modern primates using 3D laser surface scan data in collaboration with Drs. David Begun, Laszlo Kordos and Mike Plavcan. Ward is describing and studying new fossils of the earliest known species of Australopithecus, A. anamensis and will be starting up a field project in Kenya to search for more fossils. She is preparing a monograph for Oxford University Press on the postcranial fossils of early hominids dated from 2.0-1.5 Ma from Koobi Fora, Kenya, and using the 3D laser scan data to study their morphology, variation and evolution. She is particularly interested in the functional anatomy of the spines of modern and fossil humans, apes and monkeys. Dr. Ward is currently collaborating with orthopedic surgeons and engineers to use 3D image analysis and finite element modeling to study spinal mechanics of modern patients with particular spinal disorders and femoral fractures. Her lab also studies the effects of exercise on bone and joint form, hip joint functional morphology, the evolution of human intelligence, and the evolution of the wrist.
Representative Publications
- 2009 Zehnder S, Ward CV, Crow AJ, Alander D & B Latimer. Spondylolysis in a pediatric clinical population. Spine 34(3): 285-290.
- 2009 Plavcan JM, Ward CV & FL Paulus. Canine tooth crown size in Australopithecus anamensis. Journal of Human Evolution 57:2-10.
- 2007 Drapeau MSM & CV Ward. Forelimb segment length proportions in extant hominoids and Australopithecus afarensis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132: 327-343.
- 2007 Ward CV. Postural and locomotor adaptations of nonhuman hominoids. In: Henke W, R Rothe & I Tattersall, eds. Handbook of Palaeoanthropology Volume 2: Primate Evolution and Human Origins. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
- 2006 Kimbel WH, CA Lockwood, CV Ward, MG Leakey, Y Rak & DC Johanson. Was Australopithecus anamensis ancestral to A. afarensis? A case of anagenesis in the hominin fossil record. Journal of Human Evolution 51: 134-152.
- 2005 Flinn MV, D Geary & CV Ward. Ecological dominance, social competition, and coalitionary arms races: Why humans evolved extraordinary intelligence. Evolution and Human Behavior 26: 10-46.
- 2005 Ward CV & B Latimer. Human evolution and the development of spondylolysis. Spine. 30(15): 1808-1814.
- 2003 Ward CV. Interpreting the posture and locomotion of Australopithecus afarensis: where do we stand? Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 45:185-215.
- 2001 Ward CV, MG Leakey & A Walker. Morphology of Australopithecus anamensis from Kanapoi and Allia Bay, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 41: 255-368
- 1997 Begun DR, CV Ward & MD Rose. Events in hominoid evolution. In: Begun DR, CV Ward & MD Rose (eds). Function, Phylogeny and Fossils: Miocene Hominoids and Great Ape and Human Origins. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 389-415.
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