A formal installation will take place March 5.

Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D.

Trinkaus is the initial holder of the Hemenway Professorship, established in 2002 to honor the contributions of Mary Tileston Hemenway (1820-1894) to the University, as well as to the field of anthropology.

"Professor Trinkaus is the world's most influential scholar of Neandertal biology and evolution," Macias said. "His major contributions to the Neandertal have no less than redefined the scientific study of them. He is also an excellent teacher, bringing his firsthand perspective to the classroom.

"I am delighted that he will be the first holder of the Hemenway Professorship, and I look forward to his continued good work in the years to come."

Trinkaus earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1970 and a master's in 1973 and a doctorate in 1975, both from the University of Pennsylvania. After a position as Regents' Professor at the University of New Mexico, he was appointed professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in 1997.

Trinkaus' research is concerned with the evolution of our genus as a background to recent human diversity. In this, he has focused on the paleoanthropology of late archaic and early modern humans, emphasizing biological reflections of the nature, degree and patterning of the behavioral shifts between these two groups of Pleistocene humans. This research includes considerations of the "origins of modern humans" debate, interpretations of the archeological record, and patterns of recent human anatomical variation.

It has been principally through the analysis of human fossil remains that Trinkaus has sought to shed light on these issues. This research involves the analysis of the functional anatomy, life history patterns, and lesions of these prehistoric humans to assess differential levels and patterns of activities and stress. Most of these analyses are concerned with the Neandertals and their ancestors, employing them as a mirror against which to view modern human biology.

Trinkaus' research has expanded in the past decade to focus as well on early modern humans, as both a contrast with the Neandertals and as a framework to understand what it means to be "modern."

Trinkaus' contributions to his field were recognized in 1996 when he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Prolific in his writings, his research papers quickly become the raw material for textbooks. His publications include six books, three of them edited volumes, and more than 140 articles, chapters and reviews. He has organized and/or participated in nearly 40 national and international symposia, he serves on the advisory panel or editorial board of six journals, and is frequently quoted in the popular media.

Trinkaus is also an excellent and demanding teacher. His courses include classes on human paleontology, human functional anatomy, Paleolithic archeology and human biological variation.

A resident of Boston, Mary Tileston Hemenway gave a generous gift to the fledgling University as the result of a fund-raising mission in 1862 by William Greenleaf Eliot. The Washington University Board of Directors then created in 1864 the Tileston Professorship of Political Economy in thanks for her support.

In the 20 years that followed, Hemenway gave additional gifts to the University, and Eliot is on record as saying the gifts were "so large and so timely" that "on several occasions" they proved to be the "turning point of our progress and success."