A model of the interactions among the disciplines composing NYCEP:

As indicated in the diagram above, NYCEP includes three major research foci that intersect to yield additional research fields, of which some are illustrated. In our broad conception, Behavioral Ecology includes research in human and nonhuman primate ecology, social behavior, life history, biogeography, and conservation biology; Evolutionary Morphology includes comparative, developmental and functional morphology as well as paleontology and systematic analyses based on morphology; and Molecular Primatology includes population genetics, DNA sequencing and genotyping, epidemiology, endocrinology and other molecular approaches. The interconnected nature of all of these subdisciplines is at the heart of NYCEP. Several faculty members maintain primatological or paleoanthropological field sites, at which students can carry out summer field internships as part of the NYCEP graduate program, and at which a number of dissertation projects have been conducted. Research is also conducted in the laboratory, where graduate students are trained in cutting-edge approaches ranging from molecular techniques to scanning electron microscopy to surface and CT scanning. In addition to individual research projects of NYCEP faculty members, there are various collaborative, team-based research projects among multiple faculty and students at the core of NYCEP research.

In addition to the cross-NYCEP, multidisciplinary collaborations, many NYCEP faculty members undertake cutting-edge individual research, usually involving our graduate students as junior partners. These are summarized by NYCEP research focus on the individual sub-pages listed in the navigation panel above.