Tim Webster

Tim Webster is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah, where he has been a faculty member since January 2019. He also holds adjunct faculty positions at Arizona State University's School of Life Sciences. Webster directs the Primate Evolution and Genomics Lab (PEGL) and serves as President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics.

Dr. Webster earned his BA in Anthropology and Zoology from Miami University in 2008, followed by a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 2015. Between his undergraduate and graduate studies, he spent time as a Junior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies and conducted field research on chimpanzees in Semliki, Uganda. After completing his PhD, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Arizona State University from 2015-2018.

Webster's research focuses on primate evolution and genomics, using computational methods and genomic data to understand primate behavior, ecology, and evolution. His lab develops software and analytical methods while working with large population genomic datasets across the primate order and other model systems. Current projects examine evolutionary processes in primates, sex chromosome evolution, and adaptation to environmental challenges. His work bridges biological anthropology with computational genomics, contributing to our understanding of primate diversity and human evolution.

Under Webster's leadership, the Primate Evolution and Genomics Lab has produced significant research on primate genomics, with publications spanning topics from sex chromosome evolution to conservation genomics of endangered primates. His work has been supported by various research grants, though specific funding sources aren't detailed in the available information.

• President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics
• ORCID identifier 0000-0003-1174-2395
• Developed XYalign software for sex chromosome analysis

Webster has mentored numerous graduate students and postdocs who have gone on to successful careers in academia and research, including Tina Lasisi (now Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan) and Colin Brand (currently a postdoc at UCSF). His lab continues to train the next generation of anthropological geneticists through hands-on research experience.

The PEGL lab maintains active collaborations with researchers at multiple institutions and has developed important methodological contributions to the field of anthropological genomics, including software tools for analyzing genomic data from non-human primates.