1 | Name: | Dr. Anna Katherine Behrensmeyer | |
Institution: | National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution | ||
Year Elected: | 2021 | ||
Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
Subdivision: | 203. Evolution & Ecology, Systematics, Population Genetics, Paleontology, and Physical Anthropology | ||
Residency: | Resident | ||
Living? : | Living | ||
Birth Date: | 1946 | ||
Anna K. “Kay’ Behrensmeyer is a paleontologist and geologist who is recognized as a pioneer in the field of taphonomy and the study of land environments and faunas through geological time, with particular focus on the paleoecology of human evolution in Africa. She is originally from Quincy, Illinois and earned her undergraduate degree in geology from Washington University, St. Louis, and her doctorate in vertebrate paleontology and sedimentology from the Department of Geological Sciences, Harvard University. After post-doctoral positions at UC Berkeley and Yale University and an interval of teaching at UC Santa Cruz, in 1981 she became a Research Curator in Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. She has served as Acting Associate Director for Science at NMNH (1993-96), co-Director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ETE) Program since 1988, and Deep Time Initiative Lead Scientist since 2014. Her research uses geology, paleontology, and ecology to investigate the paleoecology of land environments, and she has worked in time intervals ranging from the Permian to the Pleistocene in North America, Africa, and Pakistan. Through experiments and field observations in both modern and past environments, she has built understanding of processes that affect organic remains and control the information content of the fossil record. Much of her work has been collaborative and focused on synergizing team efforts to investigate ecological change through geological time. She has been involved with museum-based education and outreach and was a member of the exhibit core time for the recently renovated Deep Time Fossil Hall at NMNH. Awards include the 2016 R.C Moore Medal (SEPM), the 2018 Romer-Simpson Medal (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology), the 2018 Paleontological Society Medal, and the 2019 G.K. Warren Prize (National Academy of Sciences). She also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Kay lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is married to William F. Keyser. |