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Proceedings of the Human Biology Association 39th Annual Meeting, April 9–10, 2014, Hyatt Regency Calgary, Calgary, Canada

The meeting was called to order at 5:00 PM Calgary time by Deborah Crooks (DC), President. DC noted that Executive Committee (EC) members would be presenting only abbreviated reports and putting full versions on the web site. The EC will focus on those items that need more immediate attention or action by the membership. She thanked EC members for their hard work throughout the year. Lynnette Leidy Sievert (LS), Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Human Biology, delivered the editor’s report. LS noted that this has been a year of transition. Peter Ellison stepped down as Editor-in-Chief at the end of December, and LS started in October with Lil Knight as Editorial Assistant. Thomas McDade is the Associate Editor for the Human Biology Toolkit, which is now published every other issue and available on the AJHB web site. Human biologists are encouraged to access the archive of toolkit articles for use in classes. Josh Snodgrass is the Associate Editor for Book Reviews and is now including some popular science books. This makes it possible to give our opinion to a broader audience on books being read by many people. Wiley is now paying for a statistician to be on call. This has been helpful when a reviewer and an author disagree on statistics, or a reviewer expresses uncertainty. LS is initiating a plagiarism check for manuscripts that almost certainly are going to be accepted, before final acceptance. Regarding the impact and health of the journal, LS noted that the impact factor has increased again, which reflects Peter Ellison’s hard work. The AJHB is now number 8 in Anthropology, only slightly behind the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. From October 2013 to March 2014, compared to October 2012 to March 2013, the number of submissions went up from 219 to 262 including revised manuscripts. The journal is not hurting for submissions. There were 298 new submissions in 2013, and the AJHB is on track for more this year. The number of manuscripts from Asia has been increasing. The time to first decision has gone from 24.8 days to 31 days. This partly reflects the learning curve and is also partly due to rejecting fewer manuscripts immediately. LS noted that the journal is committed to working with people in other countries who do not have English as their first language. Efforts include sending more such manuscripts out for review and in the future possibly working with Wiley to find a way to manageably copy edit manuscripts. LS has been copy editing, which is not sustainable. LS has been struck with how global human biology is. She has been sending manuscripts for review internationally to people who are not connected to the association and finding that the journal and its mission are well known. LS acknowledged Peter and Pippi Ellison for smoothing the editorial transition, Tiffany McKerahan and Thomas Manbeck from Wiley for their help, and Lil Knight for energy and support. The success of the journal depends C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. V

on authors and reviewers, and LS thanks everyone for this support. Monica Sans Afamado, from Uruguay, expressed appreciation for the journal’s support for people abroad who do not speak fluent English. Larry Schell, followed by several other speakers, expressed strong support for the journal being international. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S REPORT was unanimously agreed to. LS abstained Virginia Vitzthum (VV) delivered the Treasurer’s report. VV reported that 2013 was a good year financially. Income is relatively steady, so the balance sheet is mainly determined by the cost of meetings. Knoxville was inexpensive, with good local support, and the audiovisual equipment was complimentary because of serious technical difficulties. Taxes were low, as were the costs of food and printing. There are ebbs and flows in the balance sheet because some years are more expensive. This year will be expensive, because Calgary is a more expensive venue. However, income from the journal has gone up, and DC has negotiated a higher annual grant-in-aid from Wiley (from $2500 to $7500). This was the most expensive plenary ever and that will be how the extra money is used this year. The HBA remains a solvent organization and had greater income than expenditures for the last 2 years. Noel Cameron asked for more detail regarding royalties, particularly whether they are a percentage of journal income. VV replied that she will get this information and respond later. Noel Cameron asked whether the percentage has been renegotiated recently. DC responded that this was examined as part of the recent Wiley contract renegotiation, but it has been very hard to get details on journal profits because they consider that proprietary and they own the journal. Gary James asked what the current balance is for the association’s accounts. VV responded that the current balance is around $70,000. MOTION TO ACCEPT TREASURER’S REPORT was unanimously agreed to. VV abstained. Cynthia Beall (CB) delivered the AAAS representative’s report. CB reported that the AAAS annual meetings are very welcoming for human biologists. Every year there are a number of symposia with anthropologists, including recent symposia by Nina Jablonski and Katie Hinde. The symposia have been attended by a large number of journalists. There have also been symposia including anthropologists organized by other sections. For instance, Thom McDade had a session organized outside of Section H. CB encouraged submission of proposals for symposia. The AAAS is very interdisciplinary. They like anthropology, and proposals are easy, requiring only a paragraph, a title, and a list of people and topics. It helps if there are confirmations that the people listed will participate. The conference theme is not a straightjacket; symposia can, but are not required, to fit the theme. 236

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CB also encouraged joining the AAAS. Members get Science magazine, there is other information available only to members, and the only way to become an AAAS fellow is to be a member first. Larry Schell asked whether speakers or organizers have to be members. CB replied that they do not. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE AAAS REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT was unanimously agreed to. CB abstained. Christie Rockwell (CR) delivered the report of the program committee. CR thanked all for participating, especially the members of the program committee: Barry Bogin, Dan Eisenberg, Tracey Gallaway, and Alanna Rudzik. Program committee members helped with reviewing abstracts and constructing the program. CR also thanked VV who does much more than most realize to organize the meetings and Warren Wilson for helping with local arrangements. CR noted that the schedule has been standardized for several years, with posters on Wednesday morning, breakout sessions after that, then the plenary and Pearl, and finally a dinner reception. All day Thursday comprises contributed podium presentations, followed by the business meeting and student reception. This year CR tried to schedule slightly longer breaks to cope with IT problems and other delays without disrupting the program. CR also noted the continued interest in the breakout sessions for the luncheons. She expressed hope that attendance will keep going up. This is the third year of breakouts, and the second year students have organized one of them. This year’s Friday AAPA joint symposium would be on female mate choice in nonhuman primates and humans. CR thanked Carol Worthman and colleagues for putting together a wonderful plenary on the human microbiome. Among the contributed podium presentations, health was a major theme once again, along with life history, fertility, and mortality. There was a slight drop in the number of abstracts and presentations, primarily evident in the number of posters. However, about 50% of posters are student first-authored presentations, so we continue to get strong student representation/participation. CR thanked the students for their efforts. CR reminded the membership that deadlines related to the 2015 meeting were coming up soon. Last year, the HBA had made a procedural change on plenary proposals. The HBA now sends out a call for a pre-proposal, including the idea for a symposium, a list of speakers that the proposer has talked to or anticipates may be willing to participate, and a description of what the symposium would be about. The pre-proposal goes to the EC for review, and a full proposal is invited with a due date of July 1. If anyone has ideas, they should please talk to someone on the EC immediately and then write up a preproposal within the next several weeks. The plenary sessions tend to be very integrative and are often interdisciplinary. They cover topics central to the field of human biology or reflect the ways we interact with other fields in the sciences and social sciences. Contributors ideally come from all different career levels and also represent gender diversity and other forms of diversity. CR noted that proposals for the joint AAPA/HBA symposium have to be submitted to the AAPA. This year, of those who submitted to the AAPA for symposia, none

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self-identified as requesting joint HBA sponsorship. In those cases, once they review proposals, the AAPA program committee will consider which seem appropriate and interesting to the HBA membership. Then, in conversation with the HBA, they select one and ask the organizers of the symposium if they’re interested in Friday morning placement and joint sponsorship. Generally, organizers have been pleased and honored. However, please encourage members to consider putting together a symposium to send to the AAPA, and tell the AAPA that they would like joint sponsorship. CR explained that when submitting and uploading abstracts for the HBA, proposers are asked to identify a topic. This was recently simplified down to five primary areas of research with a longer list of subcategories. Health is the primary interest in 50% of abstracts, and the most common subcategories were behavior, culture, and disease. Submissions go to the committee for review, where decisions are made about acceptances and how to construct the podium sessions. Abstract proposers are notified by the end of November or early December. Finally, CR thanked the student organization, which continues to be an active part of the meetings. DC expressed appreciation of the efforts of the last two program chairs to make the process transparent. Barbara Piperata asked if the HBA could have a formalized way to identify the contribution level of students when they submit abstracts. DC noted that there is a procedure for this on the abstract submission form. Monica Sans Afamado noted that many in the Southern Hemisphere need an acceptance in writing early; usually December is too late to get money to travel. Can there be a way to notify those in the Southern Hemisphere earlier? DC suggested that Ines Varela-Silva (IVS; International rep) can work with CR to see if there is a way to address this. IVS replied that often notification must be formal and on letterhead to get money, not just an email. Larry Schell said that the program was great this year, but he did not get through all posters. Is there a way to have more time? CR replied that posters were still up all through the day yesterday until 6 p.m. This is a change as of a few years ago to have them up hanging up throughout the day instead of for a few hours. The program schedule is tight, so it could be difficult to extend when the presenters are there without running concurrent sessions, having a longer meeting, or losing a podium session. IVS suggested having an online system where people can place posters. Larry Schell said the issue is not seeing the posters but rather having time to talk with presenters. An attendee suggested it would be nice to have a letter that comes from the HBA thanking international members for presenting their posters or papers. In Latin America, presenters typically have to prove that they attended and made a presentation. DC replied that IVS and Jason DeCaro (JD; Secretary) will work on getting this done. EA Quinn suggested adding a second time period with the posters when presenters come back, after the Pearl and before the reception. This is done with the AAPA plenary. Perhaps appetizers could be served? DC replied that we would need to work with AAPA to get that room space, but it could be a way to allow more

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time with presenters. Another option would be to have them up and have people available during the reception, but AAPA controls the meeting space and we would have to work with them. CR noted that the HBA is running breakout sessions for lunch and could use that period of time to get some concurrency. We could extend presentation time right up to the plenary at 1 PM, concurrent with the breakout sessions, which would allow an extra hour and a half. VV noted that poster presenters typically have to put up posters by 7:30 or 8:00 AM; presenters need lunch, and they may want to go to breakout sessions. She also noted that it was quite a negotiating task to get space for an afternoon display. Ideas such as those suggested complicate arrangements for many people. DC acknowledged these concerns and will ask the program committee to take suggestions under consideration and see if there is a feasible way to address this issue. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE was unanimously agreed to. CR abstained. Ivy Pike (IP) delivered the membership report. The HBA is holding steady at about 230 members. We continue to do well with student members, and this year expanded our international representation to seven countries. We are creating long-term strategies to keep that number steady. The first was an early career-mentoring breakout session. While we are still working on attendance, this remains a good idea. In the future, we will try to have a new focused topic on grant submissions, based on feedback from early career members. A new task for the membership committee has been to take the lead on the newly inaugurated Spielvogel Award. Two undergraduate students won the first award, Rebecca Bedwell (Indiana) and William Olson (Oregon). This is another way to think long term about building loyalty for the HBA. If there are any ideas about how to keep membership steady and growing, please tell the membership committee. At the conclusion of the business meeting, the Membership Chair role will pass to Sue Johnston. DC noted that during the 4 years of Ivy’s term, the HBA also instituted the Little Award, to which the EC membership representative was important as well. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT was unanimously agreed to. IP abstained. Kristin Almskaar (KA) delivered the report of the student representatives. As of March 30, 2014, there were 48 student members including 7 international students. The student reps have been maintaining a Facebook page to enhance communication among members and to allow reps to communicate with the student members. There are currently 62 likes on Facebook. KA thanks the EC for help planning the student reception. There will be eight topics, and each table has two senior scholars. This reflects a decrease of two tables from last year. There was also a breakout on the future of human biology this year. There will now be annual selection of new student reps who are staggered, so there will always be one student rep in his/her second year and one in his/her first year, rather than having both expire at same time. DC thanked KA for handling this mostly solo as a new student rep, because her co-rep is preparing for the field. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES was unanimously agreed to.

Ines Varela-Silva (IVS) delivered the report of the international representative. In this first year as international rep, IVS has mostly been involved with restructuring the web site together with Ellen Demerath (PR rep). IVS thinks it looks great now. IVS is also trying to expand the number of international members using social media. Applicants for international travel awards have increased. This year there were six applications and three awards. IVS created an HBA Twitter account, which has 219 followers and will hopefully keep growing. The web site also now has a Twitter feed, which keeps the site changing so visitors are not encountering exactly the same information all the time. For anything that members want tweeted, let IVS know and she will send it. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE was unanimously agreed to. IVS abstained. Ivy Pike (IP) delivered a report on behalf of Ellen Demerath (ED) and the public relations committee. ED tasked herself with revitalizing the web site as the public face of the association, which coincided with the need to find a new webmaster. In Ron Ferrucci, we found a great webmaster and also found a member (Chris Lynn) who was willing to work with him on content. ED pulled together anyone who might fall under the category of outreach to help with this: IVS for social media, IP for membership, Ron Ferrucci as webmaster, Jason DeCaro, and Chris Lynn. Please send in responses to the survey about the new look of the web site. We would also love to have more feedback on graduate training programs and undergraduate programs so that we can post more information about training. The PR committee plans to set up keywords linked with members’ expertise for public search on the web site. The overall aim of the project has been to revamp the public face of the association and make the web site more useful for us. IP asked that whenever a member is in the news, please forward this information to the PR rep. It goes onto the web site and into Twitter. IP described PR goals for 2014–2015 as follows: 1. Priority 1 is to create links from the web site to existing training programs and blogs, start a Facebook group, and get member research tweeted and discussed online as well as new grants, papers, and honors. 2. Priority 2 is to further improve web site appearance, design, and functionality. DC requested feedback from the floor. How is the web site redesign going? We did all this within the organization and did not spend thousands to hire someone. ED just started putting it together and recruited two phenomenal folks. Larry Schell said the web site represents a huge improvement, and he really appreciates the work of the committee. It is incredibly important for the society to keep membership active and growing, and students are much more comfortable getting information online. We need to put whatever resources are required into making it really good. Given the balance in the HBA accounts, maybe we can get the webmaster some help making it even better. DC replied that, in that case, we need to know what members want the web site to do, so we can determine

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what needs may exist for hiring someone outside the association. We do not know what those things are unless members tell us, so please think about it and send notes directly to ED so she can begin figuring out where we need to go in the future. Pablo Nepomnaschy suggested that a good use of the web site would be to link a member’s name to his or her web when a member’s name appears. Also, journalists can be fed stories via Twitter. IVS noted that we have journalists and media people following on Twitter now. IP replied that the PR committee has needed to find links to members’ content manually and one by one. The committee sent out a call for web page links and got very little volunteered information. Please send it in. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT was unanimously agreed to. DC will try to find a better way to get people to respond regarding sending us links. She understands the problem with being spammed by email and will try to make a different kind of effort to get those links from members. Larry Schell asked whether people feel they are getting too much email. DC asked the membership in attendance. There was no extended discussion, but the general reaction around the room was that no one felt they were getting too much email. Crystal Patil (CP) delivered the report of the Nominations and Elections committee. CP thanked Gillian Ice, Amanda Thompson, and Claudia Valeggia for their service on the N&E committee. This year’s voting occurred from December into early January, and around 75 voted in the election. Sue Johnston was elected as the new EC membership rep. Two new members of N&E were elected—EA Quinn and Robin Nelson. For 2015, there are seven positions: President-elect, secretary, program chair, two N&E members, and two publications committee members. CP has created a transferrable online folder for the N&E chairs, including templates and information about the annual cycle of tasks. This is intended to smooth transitions. DC thanked Crystal who is rotating out of the N&E position. A call for positions will go out soon. The membership is asked to please watch for this and consider running. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS REPORT was unanimously agreed to. CP abstained. Barbara Piperata (BP) delivered the report of the publications committee. BP thanked Linda Gerber, David Himmelgreen, Babette Zemel, and EA Quinn for judging student presentations. There were 16 posters and 8 podium submissions in the student competition, with lots of variety in the types of presentations. The committee awarded two Hunt prizes, both of which were for podium presentations: Cara Ocobock from Washington University and Sam Urlacher from Harvard. MOTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE was unanimously agreed to. BP abstained. DC turned to old business. DC reported that the Wiley contract has been completed, and will now last for 6 years to align it with the contract of the Editor-in-Chief. These need to be

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negotiated at the same time to make them consistent. DC gave special thanks to Andrea Wiley (AW) for helping with the negotiation. The HBA had a lawyer to examine the contract as part of the negotiation process. The contract includes provisions that prohibit posting it on the web site, but fellows can ask for any details they want to know. Wiley has increased the annual grant-in-aid to $7500 in the new contract and there is now a mechanism for automatic increases. VV noted that our operating budget is almost entirely from Wiley. It is important to start discussions about the contract long in advance of its expiration given its importance and complexity. DC will work with incoming HBA President AW on putting together a committee to start thinking about changes in the publishing world and the implications of such changes for us. DC turned to new business. DC OBSERVED THAT A QUORUM WAS NOT PRESENT. DC reported that the EC will be asking for a bylaws change to move oversight of the Editor-in-Chief of the AJHB from the publications committee to the Executive Committee. The chair of the publications committee is a one-year appointed position, which means there is no historical memory to carry from year to year for oversight purposes, and the publications chair is also judging posters at the time when Wiley meets with the Editorial Board. For these reasons, the designated HBA representative is not able to meet with Wiley, and sometimes this results in the Association being surprised by matters related to the journal. With this proposed bylaws change, the EC through the President will always represent the Association at the Editorial Board meeting. LS and the entire EC support this change. We will send out a detailed proposal to the membership and ask for a vote. DC also noted that there has been discussion about a bylaws change with respect to the criteria for retirement for the purposes of emeritus membership. This discussion has included whether we might want to lower the retirement age. This has to do with reduced fees for membership. A full proposal with all possibilities will be assembled and we will solicit feedback, with a vote anticipated next year. Monica Sans Afamado asked why there is a cost if the journal is online. DC replied that we get charged for subscriptions anyway. Wiley gives us a cost every year. Our costs are that plus what we pay Allen Press for the business office. Then we have various membership categories with different prices. Wiley actually bills the association per person, and we have kept our add-on as low as possible. We do not make anything on memberships, and we subsidize memberships for students and emerita because the cost from Wiley is more than what we charge those categories of members. We can keep our add-on low because of royalties and the stipend from Wiley. We did not increase dues this year, and while we may have to next year the increase is always small. DC invited the President-Elect, Andrea Wiley (AW), to the podium, and turned over the meeting to her. Andrea Wiley became President of the Human Biology Association, and Deborah Crooks became Past President. AW reminded the membership that the next meeting is the 40th meeting.

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stressor-induced immunomodulation.” His talk highlighted the bidirectional gut microbiota-to-brain axis, wherein changes to the gut microbiota influence behavior, and conversely CNS responses to stressors alter the microbiome in a manner that increases pathogen risk and produces elevated inflammation. Dr. Amanda Logan Thompson (UNC Chapel Hill) presented a talk concerning “The intestinal microbiome in nutrition and metabolism.” She discussed linkages between early life diets and the microbial colonization of the intestine, with long-term implications for the development of metabolic diseases. In particular, high-carbohydrate/high-fat early diets are associated with changes in the microbiome that influence energy extraction and immune regulation. Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello’s (NYU Langone Medical Center) presentation on “Developmental ecology of the human microbiome” focused on key experiences— especially, mode of delivery, infant feeding practices, and the introduction of a solid diet—that shape an infant’s microbiome. She noted that modern practices limiting microbial transmission during early life may interfere with the natural development of the microbiome. Gabriela M. Sheets and Dr. Carol Worthman (Emory) presented on “Anthropology meets microbiology: a developmental-adaptationist model of the human

Fig. 1. HBA President Deborah Crooks with Pearl Memorial Lecturer Dr. Charles L. Raison. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Larry Schell initiated applause and thanks on behalf of the association to Deborah Crooks. DC thanked the association. AW asked for a motion to adjourn. There were multiple motions and seconds, and a unanimous vote in favor of adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 6:37 PM Calgary time. Plenary Session and Raymond Pearl Memorial Lecture The 2014 Plenary Session was built around the topic “Human Biology and the Microbiome” and culminated in a Raymond Pearl Memorial Lecture by Charles L. Raison, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Family & Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona. Following an introduction by organizer Carol Worthman, Dr. Daniel J. Coppeto (Emory) presented on “The role of the gut microbiota in the evolution of hominin energetics.” Coppeto argued that the important role of the microbiome has been overlooked in modeling human evolution. Yet many otherwise indigestible food sources are made accessible to human consumption through the microbial communities in the gut. Coppeto suggested that the human microbiome has evolved to support omnivory by allowing efficient digestion of complex carbohydrates that leads to the accumulation of white adipose tissue as a form of energy storage. Dr. Michael T. Bailey (Ohio State) discussed the “Impact of the intestinal microbiota on mucosal and systemic inflammatory responses: implications for

Fig. 2. Dr. Darna L. Dufour receives the Franz Boas Lifetime Achievement Award. From left to right: HBA President Deborah Crooks, nominator and former student Dr. Barbara Piperata, Dr. Dufour, and nominator and former student Dr. Warren Wilson. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

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Indeed, while often effective over the short term, current treatment strategies leave many patients with residual symptoms that predict both chronic disease and treatment resistance. Moreover, increasing data suggest that antidepressants may make the brain more vulnerable to depressive relapse over time. This lecture tackles these limitations by exploring whether better understandings of what causes depression, based on evolutionary science, might provide untapped therapeutic resources. Two key ideas that will emerge from this lecture are that evolutionary processes have “wired” the brain and body together in ways that make it possible to treat depression by affecting the body, rather than the brain directly, and that depression evolved in the context of dynamic interactions with others in the environment, especially microbial agents that have powerfully driven human evolution. To demonstrate these ideas, the speaker will provide examples from his own research into treating depression by impacting the body’s immune system and by using hyperthermia to specifically alter brain function in ways that relieve depressive symptoms. The talk will conclude with a discussion of theoretical and applied findings suggesting that altering our “conversation” with microbial elements in the internal and external environment might open new vistas for both preventing and treating mental disorders. Following the lecture, Professor Raison accepted the Raymond Pearl Memorial Award from HBA President Deb Crooks (Fig. 1). AWARDS LUNCHEON HBA President Deborah Crooks presents the Michael A. Little Early Career Award to Dr. Amanda Thompson. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.] Fig. 3.

microbiome.” They emphasized variation between and within individuals in the composition of microbial communities. They also highlighted the adaptive significance of this variation in the domains of energetics, immune regulation, pathogen defense, and cognition and emphasized that it should reflect life history strategies. The Raymond Pearl Memorial Lecture was presented by Charles L. Raison, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Family & Consumer Sciences at the University of Arizona. Dr. Raison is well known for his path-breaking research on inflammation and mental health that has strong translational applications in clinical medicine. He is a pioneer in mind-body medicine and seeks to integrate levels of analysis from genes to society as a means to develop more effective interventions that target numerous dimensions of health and well-being. His major research contributions span pathogen exposure, immune development, inflammation, and mental health risk, among other areas of inquiry. A human biology graduate from Stanford, he also lends a strong evolutionary perspective to his research program. Professor Raison summarized his lecture as follows: Despite ongoing scientific advances in our understanding of brain-body processes central to mental illness, the treatment of the most common of these ailments—major depression—remains little changed over the last 20 years.

The awards luncheon was held on Thursday, April 10 and included presentations of the Franz Boas Lifetime Achievement Award, the Michael A. Little Early Career Award, the E. E. Hunt student prizes for graduate student presenters, and for the first time, the Hilde Spielvogel Award for an outstanding presentation by an undergraduate student. The Franz Boas Lifetime Achievement Award honors members of the Human Biology Association for exemplary contributions to human biology in science, scholarship, and other professional service. Recipients are leading figures in our profession who have made a series of contributions that represent a significant accomplishment within the profession and/or have made a remarkable contribution or creative act that transcends normal scientific achievement and that is worthy of recognition both outside of and within the profession of human biology. Dr. Darna L. Dufour is the recipient of the 2014 Boas Award, presented to her by Dr. Deborah L. Crooks, President of the Human Biology Association. Dr. Dufour was introduced by two of her former students, Dr. Barbara Piperata and Dr. Warren Wilson. As noted in numerous letters received in support of her nomination, Dr. Dufour has established an exemplary record as a researcher, collaborator, and mentor and has been stellar in her service to the profession. Many of her 701 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters have become classics in the field. As Drs. Piperata and Wilson pointed out, Darna’s work stands out for its methodological rigor (often under extremely difficult field conditions), creative biocultural approach (which has served as a model for subsequent generations of human biology

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Fig. 4. Hunt awardee Sam Urlacher with the members of the HBA publications committee. Left to right: Dr. David Himmelgreen, Dr. Barbara Piperata, Sam Urlacher, Dr. Babette Zemel, and Dr. Linda Gerber. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Fig. 5. Spielvogel awardee Rebecca Bedwell with presenters Dr. Ivy Pike and Dr. Susan Johnston. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

students), and the rarity and detail of the information provided. Her work among people living in remote blackwater ecosystems provided new and key insights into the impact of globalization on the subsistence strategies and health of native people, and her research on the consumption of manioc as a dietary staple is widely cited by anthropologists and agronomists. She is internationally recognized as a leading scholar on cassava processing and toxicity. Dr. Dufour’s more recent work in Cali, Colombia, set the standard for what has become known as a “biocultural approach,” an approach that not only emphasizes the importance of methodological rigor but also listening to one’s research participants. Her exemplary work led to her election as Raymond Pearl Lecturer for the Human Biology Association (2005), Distinguished Lecturer for the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (2011), and Distinguished Lecturer for the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association (2012). In addition to her scholarship, Drs. Piperata and Wilson both spoke of the quality of Darna’s mentorship. From supporting them during fieldwork, to supporting them through the dissertation and since, she is “tireless, thorough, critical and amazingly generous with her time.” They both value those draft manuscripts returned to them “covered in red ink.” As Dr. Piperata noted, the first manuscript she wrote under Darna’s guidance involved 16 “final” drafts, through which Darna taught her how to “better express her ideas, critically work through complex problems, and the importance of not overstating her findings.” Dr. Wilson concurred. In presenting the award, Dr. Crooks noted Dr. Dufour’s exemplary service to the profession, including various positions within the HBA, including President; and offices

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within the Council on Nutritional Anthropology (now Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition), the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, the National Science Foundation, the School for Advanced Research, the Wenner Gren Foundation, and her own academic home, the University of Colorado, Boulder. Crooks also pointed out the importance of Dr. Dufour’s mentorship of students not her own, recalling the numerous times she witnessed and benefited from Darna’s thoughtful and gracious discussions following poster and paper presentations at the meetings. In summary, Dr. Crooks presented the Franz Boas Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the Human Biology Association to Dr. Darna L. Dufour for her exemplary scholarly achievements, her exemplary service to the profession, and her exemplary mentorship of a generation of scholars who are vital to the life of our profession (Fig. 2). The Michael A. Little Early Career Award recognizes a member of the Human Biology Association, in the early years of her or his career, for a significant contribution to the field of human biology and the promise of future significant contribution. The 2014 awardee was Dr. Amanda L. Thompson, now an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Fig. 3). Dr. Thompson’s pioneering dissertation research contributed to our understanding of how gonadal steroids and maternal behavior shape infant growth trajectories, with major implications for understanding the role of early experience in reproductive development. Her subsequent early career work has explored the role of family and social context in infant feeding and obesity risk, the development of the intestinal microbiome during infancy,

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and environmental and dietary factors in inflammation and metabolic disease in China. She has already published over 15 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Her research on the infant microbiome led to her participation as one of the plenary speakers at the 39th Annual Meeting, and she has been a consistent and energetic participant in the Association, including important service roles on elected HBA committees. The graduate students receiving the E. E. Hunt Jr. prize for their research presentations at the 39th Annual Meeting were Cara Ocobock (Washington University) for “The allocation model: a new model for predicting total energy expenditure of highly active humans in natural environments,” and Sam Urlacher (Harvard) for “Childhood immune function and growth: Insight from repeat measures among the Amazonian Shuar” (Fig. 4). The inaugural recipients of the Spielvogel Award were undergraduate students Rebecca Bedwell (Indiana) for “The impact of federal breastfeeding policy initiatives and socioeconomic factors in Indiana on women’s breastfeeding practices and attitudes” (Fig. 5), and William Olson (Oregon) for “The Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE): Depression and body composition among aging populations.” Congratulations to all these deserving awardees! RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED – Jason A. DeCaro, Secretary, The Human Biology Association Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)

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Proceedings of the Human Biology Association 39th Annual Meeting, April 9-10, 2014, Hyatt Regency Calgary, Calgary, Canada.

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