Faculty Projects and Research Groups

For individual faculty projects see faculty websites.

Departmental and Affiliated Research Groups & Programs

Agricultural GIS Users' Group (Ag-GIS)
http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/AG-GIS/index.htm
A users group dealing with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) as applied to Agricultural problems.

Archaeometry Research Graduate Group

Archaeometry is the field in which analytical techniques and scientific methods from such fields as chemistry, geology, geophysics, biology, and engineering are applied to a variety of archaeological problems. Participation provides experience in the entire range of group activities, including problem conception, research design, funding solicitation, experimental layout, laboratory work, paper delivery at national and international conferences, and publication of reports. This is an interdisciplinary graduate group that receives recognition and funding from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education.

Bonn Archaeological Software Program (BASP)
http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/BASP/basp.html
A non-profit software project for and by archaeologists which has been developed cooperatively. It now includes more than 70 functions for seriation, clustering, correspondance analysis, and mapping tools.

Center for Cognitive Science
http://wings.buffalo.edu/cogsci/index.htm
Representation at the University at Buffalo of an academic and private-sector movement, named "cognitive science", that has been expanding over the last two decades both in the U.S. and abroad. This multi-disciplinary group investigates the nature of cognition, i.e., of intellective processes as exhibited either by the human mind or by computer. Most centrally, cognitive science is the study of how the mind works, both in its conceptual organization and in its computational and neural infrastructure.

Contemporary Problems and Cultural Change
There are several faculty members in this department concerned with problems that arise in complex societies. Education, law and justice, medicine, government, economics, and minority relations are some specific areas in which these problems are seen. Faculty interest and experience in these topics and our urban location provide the opportunity for applied skills training.

Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity
A subject of interest to several members of the archaeology faculty is the emergence and subsequent evolution of sociopolitical hierarchies. This central process in human cultural change is addressed most effectively by archaeological observation, since it occurred over long periods and usually in the absence of written records. Archaeologists in the Department of Anthropology investigate this issue through fieldwork, as well as through comparative study. Courses are offered in the emergence of sociopolitical complexity, comparative urbanism, and the iconography of complex societies. Several areal surveys also take up these topics.

Fort Niagara
http://fortniagara.buffalo.edu/
This project centers on the creation of a multi-component, interactive web site and on-line data base for archaeology at Fort Niagara.

Graduate Program in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB)
http://www.evolutionecologybehavior.buffalo.edu/
An interdisciplinary graduate program put together by a consortium of faculty from various departments including Anthropology, Biology, Geology, Psychology, and Geography. The program offers a certificate program for students in other departments, including Anthropology, in addition to its own PhD and MS degrees. Our goal is to promote interdisciplinary research and education in the study of evolution, ecology and behavioral ecology.

Human Biology Program
Our human biology program is focused on developing and field-testing biological/behavioral models. The general objective is to explain how adverse or challenging conditions-whether cold, undernutrition, poor health, or stressful work-affect our well-being. To do that, we must find efficient measures of biological and behavioral responses and understand the complexity of our analysis. Within the anthropology department, human biology and medical anthropology are in active collaboration. Research efforts on age and fragility in northern China and in Western New York are in development, as is a research project on the effects of muscle and body proportion on cold resistance.

IGERT
http://www.geog.buffalo.edu/giscience/
An innovative interdisciplinary program designed for doctoral students in Anthropology, Geography, Geology, Philosophy, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, and Industrial Engineering. An emerging field that seeks to understand the nature of geographic information and its role in society, and to provide theoretical foundations for GIS and related technology. GIS constitutes a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States with many applications ranging from environmental health, national security, and basic science and engineering.

JD Holland Lithic Laboratory (Buffalo Museum of Science)
http://www.sciencebuff.org/collections/research-collections/
The laboratory houses an extensive comparative collection of well-provenienced geological samples of over 3000 lithic material types known to have been used prehistorically throughout North America.

Morphology
The study of biological form and function has a strong emphasis at UB. Our program is supported by one of the largest undergraduate comparative primate anatomy courses in the nation, as well as by the research interests of our departmental faculty and those of our adjunct faculty in both the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and the School of Dental Medicine. Research training and opportunities include anthropometrics, bone biology, human and nonhuman primate functional anatomy, dental morphology, and human osteology.

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA)
http://www.ncgia.buffalo.edu/
An independent research consortium whose primary mandate is to conduct basic research in geographic information science and its related technology.

Primate Behavior, Social Organization, and Population Dynamics Research Group

This research group studies the origins and biological basis of human social behavior through investigations of the social behavior, feeding behavior, group structure, behavioral ecology, and population structure of nonhuman primates. In this department, nonhuman primate behavior is studied within the larger frameworks provided by the disciplines of ethology, behavioral ecology, anatomy, and population genetics. Our emphasis is on natural behavior patterns in the field, particularly social development of immature primates, parent-offspring relations, mating patterns and their genetic consequences, communication patterns, and sex differences in behavior. Most students specializing in these areas receive research training in the field, working with the free-ranging population of rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico.

Social Systems GIS Laboratory
http://wings.buffalo.edu/research/anthrogis/
A users group dealing with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) as applied to Anthropological problems. It is part of an interdisciplinary research group whose goal is to familiarize students with GIS.

Time and Memory Workshop
http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/webstuff/projects/Time%20&%20Memory/index.html
A interdisciplinary reading and discussion group, visiting scholars series, and workshop, supported by the UB Humanities Institute.

UB Archaeology Survey
http://archaeologicalsurvey.buffalo.edu/
A not-for-profit research, contracting and applied archaeology institution within the Department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. It has been engaged in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects for over 30 years.

The Archaeological Survey is the contract arm of the Department of Anthropology and handles the cultural resources management (CRM) work for state, federal, and private contractors in Western New York. The survey conducts archaeological reconnaissance, testing, and mitigation projects. The work provides an opportunity for students to gain hands-on field and laboratory experience in CRM. In the past thirty years, the survey has conducted studies on sites that range in age from Paleo-Indian to Late Woodland. In recent years, there has been work on historic sites occupied by early settlers in this area. The data collected and the reports summarizing the results of the projects are a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the prehistory and history of Western New York.