| 1 | Name: | Dr. Leslie C. Aiello | |
| Institution: | Wenner-Gren Foundation; University College London | ||
| Year Elected: | 2014 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 203. Evolution & Ecology, Systematics, Population Genetics, Paleontology, and Physical Anthropology | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1946 | ||
Leslie Aiello served as President of the Wenner-Gren Foundation of Anthropological Research, a private international foundation devoted to the support of broad-based anthropological research, from 2005 to 2017. She is currently President of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Her academic interests focus on the evolution of human adaptation as well as on the broader issues of evolutionary theory, life history and the evolution of the brain and cognition. She is perhaps best known for the introduction of the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis (with Peter Wheeler), which addresses energetic trade-offs in the evolution of the human brain. She received her BA and MA in Anthropology from the University of California (Los Angeles) and her PhD in human evolution and anatomy from the University of London. She spent the majority of her 30-year academic career at University College London where she was Professor of Biological Anthropology (1995-2005), Head of the UCL Anthropology Department (1996-2002), and Head of the UCL Graduate School (2002-2005). She also served as the co-managing editor of the Journal of Human Evolution (1993-1999), has been the primary supervisor for 23 PhD students, has published books and a number of articles in academic journals and has been active with the media in the public dissemination of science and particularly human evolution. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She has served as an officer for a number of anthropological and scientific societies and as a consultant and advisor to a variety of international anthropological institutions and initiatives. She was the 2006 Huxley Memorial Medalist and Lecturer, received an Honorary Fellowship from University College London (2007), was awarded the ‘2007 Musa Urania (Science) from the city of Florence, Italy, and in 2018 she was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. She is also Professor Emerita (Biological Anthropology) at University College London. Leslie Aiello was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2014. | |||