I am a PhD student working with Dr. Fred Grine in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program of Anthropological Sciences. Broadly, my research interests involve human evolution and the relationships of fossil species which lead up to modern Homo sapiens. I have come to Stony Brook by way of the University of Virginia, where I did my undergraduate degree. 

My research aims to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of early hominins. Within this, one of my goals is to address the issue of alpha taxonomy within the Australopithecus africanus hypodigm. I am currently addressing this problem by quantifying three-dimensional dental morphology and using phylogenetic comparative methods to model morphological variability across the primate phylogeny.

Seminar Topic: Species Variability and Recognition in the Hominin Fossil Record.

Description: This is a 15-45 minute talk which outlines the statistical methods I have been developing to delimit species in the fossil record, as well as the variability in A. africanus, and the implications that this has for the biogeography of early hominins and the evolution of humans.

Publications:

Mongle CS, Wallace IJ, Grine FE. 2015. Cross-sectional structural variation relative to midshaft along hominine diaphyses. I. The forelimb. Am J Phys Anthropol Early View.

Mongle CS, Wallace IJ, Grine FE. 2015. Cross-sectional structural variation relative to midshaft along hominine diaphyses. II. The hind limb. Am J Phys Anthropol Early View.

Wallace IJ, Nesbitt A, Mongle CS, Gould ES, Grine FE. 2014. Age-related variation in limb bone diaphyseal structure among Inuit foragers from Point Hope, northern Alaska. Arch Osteoporos 9:202.

Wallace IJ, Demes BB, Mongle CS, Pearson OM, Polk JD, Lieberman DE. 2014. Exercise-Induced Bone Formation Is Poorly Linked to Local Strain Magnitude in the Sheep Tibia. PLoS One 9:e99108