Maria Mercedes Martinez Okumura

I have a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Biosciences Institute of the University of São Paulo (USP 1999), a master's degree (2002) and a doctorate from the same institution (2007). I worked as a researcher-curator at the Department of Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom (2006-2010) and then I did postdoctoral studies at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of USP (2011-2014). I was a lecturer at the Postgraduate Program in Archaeology (PPGArq) of the Dept. of Anthropology of the National Museum-UFRJ (2014-June 2018). I am currently a professor at the Dept. of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology of the Institute of Biosciences of the University of São Paulo and head of the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies in this department. I have experience in Human Evolution, Bioarchaeology, Biological Anthropology and Archaeology, working mainly on the following subjects: human biocultural studies, human microevolutionary studies, Brazilian prehistoric settlement, cultural transmission in hunter-gatherers and application of statistical methods in archaeology. I am an Associate of the Dept. of Human Evolutionary Biology (Harvard University) under the sponsorship of Professor David Reich. I am a member of the IgNobel committee since 2022. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)