Denise Su

Anthropologist Dr. Denise Su discusses her research.

AAPA Committee on Diversity IDEAS program and the BOAS network team up to bring you AAPA voices.

The video is the result of the collaboration between the AAPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported IDEAS (Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences) scholars project, and the BOAS network.

Diverse teams do better science. Bringing together multiple perspectives lowers levels of confirmation bias, and fields with ethnically diverse researchers are more likely to have individuals who can successfully anticipate, recognize and navigate potentially delicate social and political issues. Although we study human, and other primate, behavior, variation, and evolution and should be in an ideal position to attract and harness the best and brightest minds, our field is remarkably non-diverse, even though a large percentage of AAPA members are the first in their families to attend college. The IDEAS program seeks to improve our diversity and ultimately our science through targeted mentoring and outreach to minority communities.

This first round of IDEAS outreach includes videos of eight AAPA scholars discussing their research, their experiences, and their thoughts on diversity. The videos are the result of the collaboration between the AAPA, the NSF supported IDEAS (Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences) scholars project, and the BOAS network. These videos aim to highlight a diverse group of scholars, present a focus on their work, their experiences, and their perceptions of the field of biological anthropology and through them provide visible modeling of a career in biological anthropology. The videos are a part of the larger IDEAS project to enhance and expand the diversity of voices and scholars in our field.