Dr. Kevin Uno

Biography

Kevin Uno is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and an Affiliated Faculty Member in the Earth and Planetary Sciences. His research focuses on understanding major transitions in terrestrial ecosystems over the past 25 million years and their impact on human evolution, particularly through the spread of grassland ecosystems. He received his BA in Geology from Carleton College and completed both his MS and PhD in Geology at the University of Utah. After his studies, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, from 2013 to 2016, before continuing his career as an Assistant and subsequently Associate Research Professor until 2023, when he moved to Harvard. As a paleoecologist, his primary research involves exploring the role of climate and environmental change on mammalian and human evolution, utilizing stable isotope and organic geochemical methods to reconstruct climate, vegetation, and diets of mammals from the Neogene period (~24 million years ago) to the present. He has led and co-authored a series of research papers linking dietary changes in mammals and hominins to late Neogene vegetation change, and has developed molecular biomarker analyses to reconstruct ecosystem structures and hydroclimatic conditions in ancient environments.

Research Interests

Experience