Agustín Fuentes

Agustín Fuentes serves as Professor of Anthropology and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Princeton University's Department of Anthropology. His office is located in 123 Aaron Burr Hall with office hours on Mondays 9:00-10:00 am and Wednesdays 12:00-1:00 pm by appointment. Previously holding the position of Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Professor and Departmental Chair at the University of Notre Dame, Fuentes maintains active affiliations with the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) as an Associated Faculty member.

His educational background includes a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (1994), with earlier degrees in Anthropology and Zoology from the same institution. Fuentes' research spans the entanglement of biological systems with social and cultural lives across four continents and two million years of human history. His work critically examines evolutionary theory, human variation, health, race/racism, sex/gender, and multispecies relationships.

Fuentes' recent publications reveal strong trends in biocultural anthropology, evolutionary theory, and science communication. His work increasingly addresses contemporary issues like environmental violence, planetary health, and the social implications of genomic research. Key thematic threads include challenging biological determinism, examining the evolution of belief systems, and analyzing the social construction of race within scientific discourse.

• Inaugural Communication & Outreach Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists
• President’s Award from the American Anthropological Association
• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

As an active public scientist, Fuentes engages widely through blogging, lecturing, social media, and National Geographic exploration. His grant work focuses on evolutionary perspectives on cooperation, creativity, and belief, while his academic leadership includes directing undergraduate studies and contributing to major interdisciplinary projects. Fuentes maintains collaborative networks across anthropology, primatology, public health, and environmental studies, with particular emphasis on multispecies approaches and ethical considerations in evolutionary research.