Erin B. Waxenbaum

Visiting Assistant Professor (Ph.D. Univ of Florida 2007)
1812 Hinman Avenue, #304
(847) 491-4818
e-waxenbaum@northwestern.edu

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS: Physical anthropology, skeletal biology, human variation, growth and development, forensics; Native North America.

Erin B. Waxenbaum is a physical anthropologist with training in forensics who focuses on human variation. Her current research projects include:

Ecogeographic variation in growth and development among three Native North American populations
Metric analysis of the tibia
Variation in the human knee
Population variation in the human bicondylar angle
Variation among and between short statured (“pygmy”) populations
Environmental variation in sexual dimorphism of the pelvis

Waxenbaum’s background in forensic applications of anthropology stems from four years of training at the C. A. Pound Human Identification Lab at the University of Florida during her graduate tenure. She has continued to build upon that experience as a Visiting Scientist in Forensic Anthropology at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office (September 2008).

A substantial portion of Waxenbaum’s research has come from collections housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History where she has spent ample time since 2001. These projects include a majority of Waxenbaum’s dissertation data collection on growth and development variation in Native North American populations and have expanded to projects including variation in the human knee and the contentious metric analysis of the tibia.

As a Research Associate at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History Waxenbaum has collaborated with undergraduate and graduate students on repatriation projects consisting of analyzing and cataloguing Native American human remains in accordance with NAGPRA guidelines.

RECENT COURSES TAUGHT

Human Origins

Evolution of Life Histories

Unfleshed: Forensic Anthropology

Human Growth and Development

Forensic Science: Real World CSI

Global Health in Human History

RECENT PUBLICATIONS/CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Waxenbaum EB, Hunt DR, Falsetti AB. In press. Intercondylar eminences

and their effect on the maximum length measure of the tibia.

Journal of Forensic Sciences.

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB. In review. Ecogeographic limb variation

among three Native North American populations. American

Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Shea BT, Waxenbaum, EB. 2009. Invited abstract. Microevolution of size,

shape and timing changes in human pygmies. Annual Meeting of

the American Association of Physical Anthropologists;

March 31-April 4; Chicago, IL.

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB. 2009. Developmental and ecogeographic

limb variation among subadults of three Native North American

populations. Annual Meeting of the American Association

of Physical Anthropologists; March 31-April 4; Chicago, IL.

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB. 2008. Morphological limb variation in

three eco-geographically distinct Native North American populations.

Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists;

April 7-13; Columbus, OH.

Waxenbaum EB, Shea BT. 2008. Skeletal variation among African

pygmies. Annual Meeting of the Midwest Bioarchaeology and

Forensic Anthropology Association; November 8; Allendale, MI.

Waxenbaum EB. 2007. Ontogenetic variation in three Native North

American populations: Eco-geographic effects on human growth

and development [Dissertation]. Gainesville: University of Florida.

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB, Hunt DR. 2007. Morphological variation

of the human knee: Implications for sex and ancestral designations.

Annual Meeting of American Academy of Forensic Sciences;

February 19-24; San Antonio, TX.

Waxenbaum EB, Hunt DR, Falsetti AB. 2006. To measure or not to

measure: An analysis of maximum length of the tibia. Annual Meeting

of American Academy of Forensic Sciences; February 20-25; Seattle, WA.

Waxenbaum EB. 2005. A methodological quandary: Aging juvenile

human remains. Annual Meeting of the American Association of

Physical Anthropologists; April 6-9; Milwaukee, WI.

Waxenbaum EB. 2005. An analysis of a ‘royal’ cemetery: How can status

be assessed? Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology;

April 1; Salt Lake City, UT.

Shea BT, Waxenbaum EB. In preparation. Skeletal limb proportion

differences between East and West African pygmy groups support a

complex scenario of microevolutionary change in body shape.

(Target: American Journal of Human Biology).

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB. In preparation. Growth and development in

three Native North American populations. (Target: American Journal of

Physical Anthropology).

Waxenbaum EB, Falsetti AB, Hunt DR. In preparation. Morphological

variation of the human knee: Implications for sex and ancestral

designations. (Target: Journal of Forensic Sciences).

Waxenbaum EB, Shea BT. In preparation. Worldwide variation in

pygmy phenotype. (Target: Journal of Human Evolution).

Warren MW, Waxenbaum EB, Holliday TW, Byrd JE, Cole TM. In

preparation. Ecogeographical patterning in fetal limb proportions.

(Target: Journal of Human Evolution).