Christopher Schmitt

Christopher Schmitt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and a joint appointee in the Department of Biology at Boston University, where he also holds a core faculty position in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from New York University in 2010, an M.A. in Biological Anthropology from New York University in 2006, and a B.S. in English Literature and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003. Before arriving at Boston University as Assistant Professor in 2015, Schmitt served as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Human Evolution Research Center at UC Berkeley from 2014 to 2015, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the UCLA Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics from 2010 to 2013, and held lecturing positions at the University of Southern California, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.

Schmitt’s research examines the mechanistic and adaptive aspects of developmental variation in primates, focusing on savanna monkeys (Chlorocebus spp.) and ateline primates, including the Critically Endangered Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda). As Co-PI of the Sensory Morphology and Anthropological Genomics Lab at Boston University, he integrates genetics, genomics, behavioral ecology, physiology, and morphometrics to study life history, energetics, metabolic disorders, and adaptations to environmental extremes amid anthropogenic climate change. His fieldwork encompasses Africa, the Caribbean, and Peru through collaborations with the International Vervet Research Consortium, North West University, Wildlife Conservation Lab at Los Amigos Biological Station, and Peruvian NGOs such as Yunkawasi Perú and Neotropical Primate Conservation. Notable publications include co-editing Savanna Monkeys: The Genus Chlorocebus (Cambridge University Press, 2019); Gagnon et al., "Evidence of selection in UCP1 gene region suggests local adaptation to irradiance rather than cold temperatures in savanna monkeys (Chlorocebus spp.)" (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2022); Schmitt et al., "High heritability of obesity and obesogenic growth are both highly heritable and modified by diet in a nonhuman primate model, the African green monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus)" (International Journal of Obesity, 2018); and Hlusko et al., "The integration of quantitative genetics, paleontology, and neontology reveals genetic underpinnings of primate dental evolution" (PNAS, 2016). Schmitt has received over $241,000 in fellowships, including recent grants from the National Geographic Society and the Leakey Foundation in 2023. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2024 and has earned the Undergraduate Academic Advising Award from Boston University in 2023. Elected President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics in 2023 and Vice President in 2022, he has delivered invited plenary addresses at North West University (2022) and the Asociación Peruana de Primates (2019), and chairs committees such as the AABA COD LGBTQQIAA+ Interest Group Steering Committee. His scholarship has garnered over 2,000 citations on Google Scholar, advancing primate genomics and conservation in biological anthropology.

Professional Email: caschmit@bu.edu