AIA Lecturer/Host: William Harcourt-Smith

Will Harcourt-Smith is a paleoanthropologist based at the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York. He was born in Great Britain and raised across Europe. Will has extensively published on his research in both scientific and popular formats, including articles in Nature, eLife,and Natural History Magazine. His work has been highlighted in many popular formats, including National Geographic, the New York Times, and NOVA. Will is an internationally recognized expert on the origins of bipedalism in the human lineage, and is a member of the team that described the South African fossil hominin Homo naledi. He has conducted paleontological and archaeological fieldwork across Africa and Eurasia for over 20 years, including projects in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan. Will has lectured to the public about human origins around the globe, and has helped curate numerous exhibits, including the current Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History.