Alisa J. Winkler

Alisa J. Winkler is a Research Professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Paleontology from SMU. Her research focuses on systematics, paleobiogeography, and paleoecology of Neogene rodents and lagomorphs, particularly from East Africa and southeast Asia.

• Primary affiliations: SMU (Earth Sciences) and UT Southwestern (Cell Biology)

Current projects include studies of Miocene rodents from Kenya's Maboko Island and Bukwa, Early Miocene fossils in Uganda/Kenya, and the exceptional Laetoli hare fossils. Her work integrates multidisciplinary teams to reconstruct hominoid evolutionary contexts through small mammal faunas.

Her research emphasizes understanding climate-driven evolutionary changes in hominids and other taxa using rodent biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental proxies. She also teaches Human Anatomy at UT Southwestern, bridging paleontology and medical education.