Melissa Jane Remis

Dr. Melissa Jane Remis is a Professor of Anthropology and the current Department Head of the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts. She joined Purdue University in 1996 and has held various leadership positions including Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education (2015-2018) and Interim Department Head (2014-2015).

Dr. Remis received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1994, following an M.Phil. from Yale in 1990 and a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1986. Her academic journey has focused on the intersection of biological and cultural anthropology in Central African contexts.

Dr. Remis specializes in biological anthropology with a focus on primate ecology, human ecology, nutrition, conservation biology, and hunter-gatherer societies. Her research centers on human-animal relationships, particularly with great apes, in sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted extensive field research in the Central African Republic, initially focusing on western gorilla behavioral ecology and later expanding to examine the interrelated human and wildlife ecologies, diet, health, and social impacts of extractive industry and conservation. Dr. Remis employs both field and laboratory approaches, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to address wildlife and human dimensions of ecosystem change.

Her research program has evolved from studying gorilla feeding ecology to examining multispecies relationships in conservation zones, diet and food security among hunter-gatherers transitioning to market economies, and the impacts of human disturbance on mammal populations. She has also designed experimentally based research on the evolution of feeding strategies among African apes, including work with captive apes in zoological facilities to improve dietary health.

• 2020: Received Purdue's Violet Haas Award
• 2016: Named to the African Primate Section of the International Union of Conservation
• 2003: Named to the editorial board of the International Journal of Primatology

Dr. Remis has served as a reviewer and board panel member for granting agencies including NSF and Wenner-Gren, and has been actively involved with academic journals in physical anthropology, primatology, ecology and conservation. She has trained numerous US and Central African graduate students in African field research and undergraduates in zoo-based research.

She leads the Remis Research Group which focuses on human-wildlife relationships in Central Africa, with ongoing projects in Dzanga-Sangha Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic, Korup National Park in Cameroon, and Bwindi National Park in Uganda. Her collaborative work often involves cultural anthropologist Dr. Rebecca Hardin of University of Michigan and former PhD students Carolyn A. Jost Robinson and Dr. Lesley Daspit.