The African Paleosciences Laboratory depends on a vibrant and diverse volunteer and student intern community. Below are some of the lab's more recent community members

Summer 2023 high school interns

Avi Zimmerman is a rising high school senior at the Nightingale-Bamford School, and a part of NYU’s ARISE summer internship program. Their research interests include anthropology, linguistics, and cognitive and behavioral psychology. 

Nilla Wahab is a rising senior from Townsend Harris High School and begins her research as part of NYU’s ARISE program. She is interested in studying anthropology, biomechanics, and evolutionary biology.

Adela Cebeiro is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. Her research focuses on reconstructing the mechanisms involved in the emergence and evolution of primate (human and non-human) stone tool technology. Overall, she is interested in primate archaeology, the anatomical and cognitive diversity of early hominins, primate behavioral ecology and lithic technology

Caleb Chen is an Archaeological Anthropology PhD Student at New York University. He is interested in using experimental approaches and artifact analysis to understand how hunter-gatherers used lithic technology. His research focuses on understanding why similar lithic technologies occur on a near-global scale 17,000-12,000 years ago.

Alex is a PhD student at New York University in the anthropology department. Alex is interested in how emerging methods of quantitative data analysis can help to understand, reconstruct, and explain prehistoric human behaviors. His research focuses on the effect territories had on how prehistoric foragers made stone tools in Africa during the Holocene. The regions involved in this research span southern and central Africa and include the countries of South Africa and Malawi

Phoebe Halper is an undergraduate senior in anthropology at New York University.  She is interested in biological anthropology and studying the hominin fossil record as a means to answer questions about human evolution. She is also specifically interested in encounters and interbreeding between archaic hominins

Will Steger is an undergraduate junior majoring in Anthropology and History and minoring in Archaeology at New York University. He is interested in hominin and primate behavioral ecology, the evolution of craniodental morphology, primate tool usage, and the relationship between early hominin technological and morphological evolution.

Abby Roll is a junior majoring in anthropology and psychology. She is studying stone tool social learning in the African Paleosciences Laboratory because she is interested in understanding the evolution of human cognition through historical and modern skill-sets. 

Reid Worroll is a Masters Student of Biological Anthropology at New York University, focusing on human skeletal biology. He is interested in the application of both comparative morphological and experimental research as a means of examining the the complex intersections of hominin cultural and biological development. 

Zayd Salahuddin is a sophomore majoring in Global Liberal Studies (GLS) with a concentration in Law, Ethics, History, and Religion (LEHR) at New York University. He is also a pre-medical student minoring in Chemistry and is interested in hominin biocultural evolution, as well as the behavioral learning processes associated with hominin evolution from a psycho-social perspective.

Tammy Xing is a junior majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Genetics. She is interested in biological anthropology and learning about the evolution of different hominin traits.


Evan Wilson is a PhD student studying paleoanthropology and Stone Age archaeology at the CUNY Graduate Center as part of the New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology. Their research focuses on hominin-environment interactions and the coevolution of biology and culture, particularly the role of technology in the emergence of humankind.

Tyler Phillips is an undergraduate senior majoring in anthropology and minoring in archaeology. He is interested in paleoarchaeology as well as Classical and medieval archaeology. He is especially curious in researching and constructing the family tree of extinct human species, and how their interrelationships shaped modern human morphology.

Kazi Nur is an undergraduate junior studying Biological Anthropology with a double minor in Chemistry and Public Health. She is interested in learning about the practice of early societies, factors influencing the evolution of communication and evolutionary biology concerning diseases, and how they emerge/ reemerge, affecting human health. She joined the African Paleosciences Lab to explore her interest in tool use and its relation to hominin evolution and social behavior.

Caroline Shore is an undergraduate sophomore studying biological anthropology and public health at New York University.  She is interested in hominin evolution and tool use, as well as the evolutionary biology of human diseases and how interactions between ancient humans caused disease to spread.

MiKaelah Freeman is an undergraduate senior majoring in anthropology and politics. She is interested in biological anthropology and learning about the impact of climate and environment on hominin evolution. More specifically, she is interested in learning about how tool making and mobility needs in changing climates have influenced the evolution of hominin skeletal morphology.

Caroline Shore is an undergraduate sophomore studying biological anthropology and public health at New York University.  She is interested in hominin evolution and tool use, as well as the evolutionary biology of human diseases and how interactions between ancient humans caused disease to spread.