Biomedical Sciences
Justin Adams



Phone: 616-331-3318
Fax: 616-331-2090
A. Nieuwkoop, Ph.D., Chair
nieuwkot@gvsu.edu

Grand Valley State University
312 Padnos
Allendale, MI 49401

Justin Adams

Assistant Professor
Biomedical Sciences Department
231  Padnos Hall
Allendale, Michigan 49401
Phone:  616-331-2818
Fax:  616-331-2090
email:  adamjust@gvsu.edu

OFFICE HOURS:
See available times here,
or by appointment		  

COURSES TAUGHT
BMS 208 - Human Anatomy
BMS 309 - Human Cadaver Laboratory
BMS 355 - Anatomy of Joints
BMS 460 - Regional Human Anatomy
BMS 461 - Prosected Regional Anatomy 
BMS 480 - Evolutionary Human Anatomy

EDUCATION/TRAINING
 2007    Geometric Morphometrics Short Course, University of California, 
             Berkeley
 2006    Ph. D., Washington University, St. Louis, MO (Advisor: Dr. Glenn Conroy)
 2004    Stable Light Isotopes Course, University of Cape Town, South Africa
             (Certificate of Completion; Dr. N. van der Merwe)
 2003    M.A., Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
 1999    B.A. (with Distinction), Anthropology, University of Washington,
             Seattle, WA

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Neogene African mammal paleontology and evolution, taphonomy, paleoecology, hominin evolution, comparative methods, computerized tomography, comparative anatomy

I am actively involved in both field and lab research. My recent fieldwork has focused on documenting the geologic, taphonomic, and paleoecologic factors influencing the composition of Plio-Pleistocene fossil assemblages in the mountainous regions in South Africa. My research team and I are currently focused on research at the Hoogland fossil locality, which yielded a rich fossil sample including several primate specimens during two initial field seasons in 2008 and 2009.  We hope to continue excavation and analysis in the region, both at Hoogland and novel fossil localities, during the summer of 2010 and beyond.

I also have several ongoing paleontological and comparative anatomical research projects involving computerized tomography (CT).  Following from data I first began collecting in 2004, I have been developing methods combining CT and 3D morphometric analysis to understand evolution of the African pigs (Family Suidae) over the past 3-4 million years.  Although the topic may seem esoteric, fossil pig teeth provide important information for dating fossil localities and interpreting the paleoenvironmental context of the human fossil record.  Analyses of these remains (in part funded by a GVSU Faculty Grant-In Aid in 2007) will help paleontologists understand how teeth evolve in response to dietary and paleoecological changes, allow us to better define suid species in the fossil record, and provide the context necessary for using these remains in biostratigraphic analysis (faunal dating methods).

Starting in Fall 2007, I began a collaborative, comparative anatomical project addressing the development and functional internal anatomy of the African elephant head and neck. An initial approach using CT scans of a developmental sequence of elephant crania was supplemented in 2009 by detailed dissections of elephant specimens.  This project will provide both critical information on the basic skeletal anatomy of this incredible species, and the first detailed study of the functional anatomy of head and neck structures involved in elephant communication.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Herries AIR, Adams JW, Latham A, Curnoe D, and Warr G. In Review.  The age of Australopithecus in South Africa: a multi-disciplinary perspective.  Invited publication for Delson, ES and MacPhee, RDE (eds.). Diversity in Australopithecus: tracking the earliest bipeds. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series (Submitted 01/08).

Adams JW.  Accepted.  Taphonomy of the Gondolin GD 2 in situ deposits and its bearing on interpretations of South African Plio-Pleistocene karstic fossil assemblages.  Journal of Taphonomy, ‘Taphonomy in Southern African Paleoanthropology’.

Herries AIR, Curnoe D, and Adams JW.  2009.  A multi-disciplinary seriation of Homo and Paranthropus bearing palaeocave deposits in southern Africa.  Quaternary International 202: 14-28.

Badlangana NL, Adams JW, Manger PR. 2009. The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) cervical vertebral column: a heuristic example in understanding evolutionary processes? Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 155: 736-757.

Adams JW, Hemingway J, Kegley A. 2007. Luleche, a new paleontological site in the Cradle of Humankind, North-West Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 53: 751-754.

Adams JW, Herries AIR, Conroy GC, and Kuykendall KL. 2007. Geology and       taphonomy of the GD 1 deposits at Gondolin, a Plio-Pleistocene paleocave system in the Northwest Province, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 2526-2543.

Herries AIR, Adams JW, Kuykendall KL and Shaw J. 2006. Speleology and magnetobiostratigraphic chronology of the Gondolin hominin palaeocave, S. Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 51: 617-631.

Striklj G, Adams JW and Wang Q. 2005. Robert Broom’s first reconstruction of the adult Australopithecus.South African Journal of Science 101: 217-218.

Adams JW. 2005. A methodology for the intraspecific assessment of heterogeneously worn hypsodont teeth using computerized tomography.Journal of Taphonomy 3(4): 151-162.

Adams JW. 2005. Maxillae and mandibles: P.V. Tobias’ contribution to understanding        hominin taphonomy. In G. Strkalj, N. Pather, B. Kramer, (eds.) Voyages in Science: Essays by South African Anatomists in Honour of Phillip V. Tobias's 80th Birthday. Content Solutions, Pretoria, 15-33.

Adams JW and Conroy GC. 2005. Plio-Pleistocene faunal remains from the Gondolin  GD 2 in situ assemblage, North West Province, South Africa. In D. Lieberman, R.J. Smith and J. Kelley (eds.) Interpreting the past: essays on human, primate and mammal evolution in honor of David Pillbeam. Brill  Academic  Publishers Inc., Boston, 243-261.
  Last Modified Date: September 10, 2009
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