Cara Ocobock

Graduate Student

Department of Anthropology

Washington University

email: cjocoboc@artsci.wustl.edu

Research Interests

I am interested in the relationship between form and function of skeletal and muscular structure and how it affects locomotion.   Currently, I am working on a project investigating the relationship between lower limb center of mass to locomotion. The goal is to expand our knowledge about the kinematic and energetic implications for animals with distally heavy limbs, and apply our findings to the fossil record. My possible disseration topic is a biomechanical study of suspensory locomotion . Specifically, what makes habitual suspensory primates better at what they do than non-habitual suspensory primates? What can be learned from the ontogeny of suspension across primate taxa? I hope to use both an experimental and observational approach to elucidate the anatomical, kinematic, and energetic details of suspensory locomotion to better understand both extant and extinct primates.

Undergraduate Background

University of Michigan 2007

Bachelor's of Science in:

Anthropology-Zoology

Cellular and Molecular Biology

University of Michigan Vertebrate Paleontology Preparation Laboratory

Field work in Murica, Spain at two Neanderthal cave sites: Cueva Negra and Sima de las Palomas