R. Gustav Steinhardt 

Biological Anthropologist

My scientific research synthesizes spatial ecology and behavioral ecology in an effort to understand how animal behavior responds to underlying environmental factors. My main project is a study of behavior and microhabitat use in emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator) and saddleback tamarins (Leontocebus weddelli), which uses LiDAR data in combination with on-the-ground primate follows to demonstrate how critical behaviors are distributed into different forest types.

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Life Science Educator

Alongside my research, I teach undergraduate courses such as Evolution of Human Behavior, Biocultural Approaches to Sex & Gender, and Neurodiversity. During my PhD training, I served as a graduate student instructor in a variety of upper- and lower-division courses, including Evolution of Brain and Behavior and Principles of Conservation Biology. I also teach field methods at Los Amigos Biological Station (EBLA) in southeastern Peru, and I teach interdisciplinary research seminars at Mount Tamalpais College inside San Quentin State Prison.

 

In all three contexts, I use problem-based learning and universal design principles to encourage critical thinking and cultivate students' natural curiosity. As a fellow of the Berkeley Working Group on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I developed a training module for the anthropology department to help make our courses more inclusive and accessible to a wider diversity of students, especially disabled and non-neurotypical students.