Dr. Corinna Most

Dr. Most is a faculty member in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (EEOB) and she holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLC). She is broadly interested in the origins, evolution, and development of social cognition, and her approach is interdisciplinary, combining theories and methods from anthropology, developmental and comparative psychology, and cognitive sciences. Ultimately, Dr. Most’s research provides insights into how our social nature, one of the defining traits of our species and indeed our order, arises both phylogenetically and ontogenetically.

Dr. Most is the co-Director of the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project (UNBP), in Kenya, where she studies the development of social competence in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis) and the long-term effects of ecological changes on the baboons’ behavior and reproductive parameters. She also oversees student research on the primates housed at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.

As Coordinator for the ISU Learning Community “Sky is the Limit”, Dr. Most combines research with practice in investigating effective strategies for mentoring and teaching first- and second-year students with broad interests in the Life Sciences.

There are always opportunities to obtain research experience in Dr. Most’s lab, digitizing and analyzing long-term data from the UNBP and/or collecting behavioral data on the primates at Blank Park Zoo. Students in her lab also participate in the Primate Interest Club (PIC) reading group, which meets once a month.

In the Fall, Dr. Most teaches Animal Behavior (BIOL3540, 3cr - co-taught with Dr. Amy Toth) and Primate Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution (ANTHR3170, 3cr). In the Spring, she teaches Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (BIOL3510/L, 3/2cr) and Exploring Possibilities in the Life Sciences (BIOL1130, 1cr).