Hannah Farrell | Ape Move Lab

Hannah N. Farrell, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

My research focuses on understanding locomotor evolution in fossil hominins through the study of internal bone structure. I examine how patterns of bone (re)modeling reveal shifts in behavior, including the persistence of arboreal activity after the emergence of bipedality. My doctoral research centered on the primate clavicle, and my current work investigates similar questions through the internal structure of the foot.

hannahfarrell@uchicago.edu

Education and Training

2024 - present

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago

2024

Ph.D. Integrative Biology, University of Chicago

2022

M.S. Integrative Biology, University of Chicago

2019

B.A. Integrative Biology and Anthropology, University of California – Berkeley

Grants and Awards

2025

Postdoctoral Platform Presentation Award (1st Place), American Association for Anatomy

2024

Journal of Human Evolution Student Presentation Prize on Human or Primate Evolution, American Association of Biological Anthropologists

2023

Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (Biological Anthropology), NSF

2022

Hinds Funds Endowment, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago

2021

Leakey Foundation Research Grant, The Leakey Foundation

Publications

2025

Farrell, H.N., Alemseged, Z. 2025. Clavicular evidence for continued arboreality in Australopithecus. Journal of Human Evolution.

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Farrell, H.N., Alemseged, Z. 2025. Locomotor adaptation in the hominoid clavicle through ontogeny. Journal of Human Evolution.

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Farrell, H.N., Schwartz, R.*, Tsegai, Z.T., Alemseged, Z. 2025. Locomotor signals in the trabecular structure of the hominoid clavicle. Journal of Anatomy.

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2024

Schwartz, R.*, Farrell, H.N., Alemseged, Z. 2024. Trabecular bone response variation in the hominoid clavicle. Cambridge Journal of Human Behaviour. *undergraduate mentee

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