The HSL is committed to training students and postdocs for positions inside and outside of academia, drawing on wide-ranging fields in the social sciences and sciences; to the well-being and flourishing of lab members; and to promoting a collaborative research environment that advances equity, diversity, and inclusion. See our lab commitments for more.
Directors
Dr Anne Pisor; HSL director; Penn State
Anne Pisor (“pie-zur”) is an integrative scientific anthropologist who studies how people manage risk. She’s an expert on the evolution of cooperation in humans, especially social relationships that span communities (“long-distance relationships”) – often key to risk management. This work inspired her federally funded projects on climate change adaptation (NIH) and natural resource management (NSF), interdisciplinary efforts that involve collaborations in public health, epidemiology, development, climate science, public policy, and more.
Evolutionary social scientists know Anne as a human behavioral ecologist, cultural evolutionist, and evolutionary psychologist; anthropologists know her as a cultural and evolutionary anthropologist; social scientists know her as an anthropologist, demographer, ecologist, and statistician; and those in health science and business know her as an expert in behavior and culture.
Anne is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Social Science Research Institute at Penn State University. She was recently named a Rising Star by the Human Behavior and Evolution Society as an early-career researcher “whose innovative work has already advanced the field.” You can watch a talk of hers for a taste of her academic approach.
When not at the university, you can find Anne mentoring entrepreneurs and change-makers, helping them narrow down who they’re serving, what’s hard for those they serve, and what actions they can take to make things better. See Anne’s LinkedIn profile for more on her cross-sector work.
Dr Kris Smith; HSL co-director; Washington State
Dr. Kristopher Smith is an incoming assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University and the co-director of the Human Sociality Lab. With formal cross-training in anthropology, psychology, and epidemiology, he draws upon a diverse set of theories and methods to study how communities work together to respond to environmental and cultural change. Specifically, he investigates 1) how and why people cooperate with one another, and 2) how people innovate, share, and adopt climate change adaptations.
Kris directs the Tanga Sociality and Fisheries Project with Anne Pisor and Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, a long-term field site on the coast of northern Tanzania focused on how social networks impact participation in fisheries management. And in a new project he is leading in collaboration with CREID-ECA, he is studying how camel pastoralists in northern Kenya are adapting to climate change and its effects on conflict, famine, and infectious disease. His research has been recognized with multiple awards, including the New Investigator Award from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society and the Postdoctoral Researcher Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University.
Kris received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship with MindCORE. He then went on to complete additional postdoctoral training in the Department of Anthropology and Paul G. Allen School for Global Health at Washinton State University.
Core members
Courtney Elmore; MA student; Penn State
Courtney Elmore is a passionate life-long learner and former Geospatial Intelligence Analyst for the Air Force. Her time in the military taught her not only to navigate complex data but also the importance of strategic decision-making in high-stakes environments. After the service, she transitioned into entrepreneurship, where she ran her own business, gaining hands-on experience in leadership, problem-solving, and building relationships within the community.
Currently, Courtney is pursuing her Master’s degree at Penn State University via the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate program and seeks to delve deep into the world of social networks and social capital. She is especially interested in understanding how these systems influence well-being, and how they can be leveraged to foster stronger, more connected communities. Her academic journey is driven by a desire to explore how human connections and the way we interact in social spaces shape our lives, both personally and collectively.
Courtney is excited to combine her past experiences with new insights from her studies to contribute meaningfully to the evolving field of anthropology and to continue learning about the ways in which social networks can be harnessed for positive change.
Evan Leacox; PhD student; Washington State
Evan Leacox is interested in how adaptive governance emerges from environmental uncertainty, especially (1) what supports and limits diverse social collaboration, and (2) when and why people are patient with the - often slow - process of cultural and institutional change and transformation. He focuses primarily on how people are approaching equitable, community-led Social-Ecological System stewardship networks in the Columbia River Basin. Evan prioritizes a collaborative, community-engaged research approach to support theory development and cultural research that is guided by, and seeks to contribute to applied, community-identified interests. Evan is a trainee in WSU’s Rivers, Watersheds, and Communities program, where he has an NSF-funded graduate research fellowship. Before joining WSU, Evan worked in the nonprofit sector, focusing on sustainable agriculture and community engagement.
Ollie Shannon; PhD student; Washington State
Ollie Shannon is a biocultural anthropologist and PhD candidate specializing in queer communities, chosen family networks, and social support systems. Their research explores how queer individuals create and sustain relationships that provide emotional, financial, and caregiving support and how resources flow across these chosen family networks. Ollie’s teaching philosophy is rooted in inclusive pedagogy, equity-based learning, and classroom innovation. They strive to create student-centered learning environments that recognize the diverse experiences and perspectives each student brings. With over two decades of experience as a community organizer, Ollie has advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, mutual aid, and social justice. This background informs their research and teaching, bridging scholarship and activism to support marginalized communities. Ollie was recently awarded the Graduate Teaching Award by the College of Arts & Sciences at Washington State University.
Affiliates
Dithapelo Medupe; PhD student; Penn State
Dithapelo Medupe is from Botswana and did her undergraduate studies at Stanford University on full scholarship followed by medical school in Grenada and London. Ditha worked as a medical doctor in Botswana for five years. She is a fifth year PhD student in Pennsylvania State University working with Mary Shenk, Anne Pisor and Luke Glowacki. Ditha won the HBES New Investigator Award in 2023.
Ditha is interested in the effects of ecology on culture and health and the effects of culture on health. Her first project looked at how the effects of biodiversity on the spread of intensive agriculture since the Neolithic have been underestimated and biodiversity may have prohibited intensive agriculture and its associated complex stratified societies in many places. She is currently interested in the suites of characteristics that shift with market integration, from behavior to health, and the effects of market integration on causes of morbidity and mortality in areas which didn’t have intensive agriculture.