Marianne Brasil, PhD

Assistant Professor

About

Marianne Brasil, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Western Washington University. Dr. Brasil completed her PhD in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley (2020) and holds two BA degrees from UC Berkeley in Anthropology and Integrative Biology (2014). Prior to joining the Department of Anthropology at Western, she held postdoctoral appointments at the Human Evolution Research Center at UC Berkeley (2023) and the Berkeley Geochronology Center (2020-2022).  

Dr. Brasil’s research focuses on skeletal variation and evolution in humans and monkeys. Her field- and museum collections-based work explores how variation is patterned in modern primates, and how those insights can be applied to interpret variation in the fossil record. As a member of the Middle Awash Research Project in Ethiopia and the Middle Atbara Project in Sudan she works on describing newly recovered monkey and hominid fossil remains. 

As a first-generation college student and a woman in science, Dr. Brasil is committed to creating inclusive environments in the classroom, lab, and field, and to broadening accessibility to higher education and research opportunities. 

Education

  • PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology, 2020 Dissertation: “Skeletal morphology of early Homo sapiens from the Middle Awash study area, Ethiopia” 

  • BA, University of California, Berkeley, Anthropology & Integrative Biology, 2014 

Research Interests

  • Human origins, primate evolution, paleoanthropology, skeletal variation, human biological variation, comparative anatomy, body size and shape, digital paleontology, first-gen student experiences.

Selected Publications

  • Brasil MF, Monson TA, Taylor CE, Yohler R, and Hlusko LJ. 2022. Hundreds of Colobus (Cercopithecidae: Primates) fossils from the later Pleistocene of Ethiopia’s Middle Awash study area. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1):77-114. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24639  
  • Brasil MF, Monson TA, Taylor CE, Yohler R, and Hlusko LJ. 2022. A Pleistocene assemblage of near-modern Papio hamadryas from the Middle Awash study area, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1):48-76. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24634  

  • Taylor CE, Brasil MF, Monson TA, Yohler R, and Hlusko LJ. 2022. Halibee fossil assemblages reveal later Pleistocene cercopithecins (Cercopithecidae: Primates) in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1):6-47. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24637  

  • Monson TA, Weitz AP, Brasil MF, Hlusko LJ. 2022. Teeth, prenatal growth rates, and the evolution of human-like pregnancy in later Homo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(41):e2200689119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200689119  

  • Niespolo EM, WoldeGabriel G, Hart WK, Renne PR, Sharp WD, Shackley MS, Ambrose SH, Asfaw B, Beyene Y, Brasil MF, Carlson JP, Sahle Y, White TD. 2021. Integrative geochronology calibrates the Middle and Late Stone Ages of Ethiopia’s Afar Rift. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(50):e2116329118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116329118  

  • Brasil MF, Monson TA, Schmitt CA, and Hlusko LJ. 2020. A genotype:phenotype approach to testing taxonomic hypotheses in hominids. The Science of Nature 107:40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-020-01696-9