Carrie Veilleux will be talking about her research at this CEMinar. She is a biological anthropologist and assistant professor of anatomy at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. In her research, she uses a combination of molecular genomic, behavioral ecology, psychophysics and anatomical methods to investigate interspecific and intraspecific variation in mammal sensory systems, with a particular focus on primates. In her teaching, she teaches human anatomy to health professional students.

Carrie's research focuses on senses because they can offer a window for exploring biological adaptation and evolution. Senses are how we interact with the external world — we use senses to find food, evaluate food quality, detect predators and move about our environments. Consequently, sensory function is often tightly linked to an animal's ecology. Variation in sensory genes, sensory anatomy or sensory function can represent adaptations to different ecological conditions.