People

Principal Investigator

Christopher Krupenye, PhD
krupenye@jhu.edu
Chris (he/him) is an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences and the director of the Social & Cognitive Origins group. He is broadly interested in how humans and other animals think and how cognition evolves. Before coming to Hopkins, Chris completed a bachelor’s degree at Connecticut College and a PhD at Duke University, and received predoctoral training at Kyoto University (Japan) and postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany), the University of St Andrews (UK), and Durham University (UK).

Postdoctoral Scholars

Amalia Bastos, PhD
bastosamalia@hotmail.com - personal website
Amalia (she/her) holds a B.A. Hons. in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford, where she studied under a full scholarship. In 2021, she earned a PhD in Comparative Psychology from the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. She is broadly interested in how intelligence evolves and which cognitive processes animals possess to understand and respond to the world around them. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Social & Cognitive Origins Group, she will be studying how chimpanzees perceive third-party social interactions through eye-tracking technology, as well as investigating dog cognition.

Elizabeth Warren, PhD
ewarren8@jh.edu
Elizabeth (she/her) is interested in the evolution of communication and cooperation and investigates the cognitive processes and abilities that underlie animal social behavior. She is a strong advocate for voluntary and positively-reinforced animal research methods that take population and species differences into account. Elizabeth graduated from St. Olaf College in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts and completed an MSC in Evolutionary and Comparative Psychology at the University of St. Andrews in 2018. In 2023, she earned her PhD in Comparative Psychology with the Origins of Mind Group at the University of St. Andrews. In the Social & Cognitive Origins Group, she will investigate the cognitive underpinnings of individual versus collective reasoning in great apes. Outside her research activities, she enjoys hiking, dog training, knitting, and science outreach.

PhD Students

Luz Carvajal is laughing with one hand in their pocket. They are standing in the forest, wearing a hat, and black and beige field clothes.

Luz Carvajal Villalobos PhD student since 2022
lcarvaj2@jhu.edu
Luz (they/them) is a PhD student fascinated by the complex, rich and exciting social lives of apes. Luz completed a Master’s in Psychology at the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia. Subsequently, they carried out research for the Suaq Project in Indonesia, the LuiKotale Bonobo Project in the DRC and the Proyecto Caí in Argentina. These experiences with wild orangutans, bonobos and capuchins nurtured Luz' curiosity about the intricacies of primate social cognition and behavior. Through inventive research methods, they want to explore ape’s knowledge of other individuals and their relationships, and they hope to contribute to a multidisciplinary understanding of the mechanisms that help apes navigate their social world. Experiencing the privilege of observing wild primates has also strengthened Luz’ commitment to conservation, and their goal is to support community-based initiatives that envision conservation beyond the boundaries of colonial interests. Luz finds joy in baby animals, being surrounded by trees, dancing and building community.

Luke Townrow is smiling with a phone in his hand. He stands in front of a small waterfall surrounded by rocks, trees and a heron.

Luke Townrow PhD student since 2022
ltownro1@jhu.edu
Luke (he/him) is a PhD student with an interest in comparative cognition. Luke is looking to shine greater light onto how primates, and other animals, navigate their social worlds through understanding of their own minds and whether they ‘project’ minds onto others! Keen to dive deeper into this area of interest by looking at the mechanisms underlying an animal’s social cognition, Luke will be investigating the concept of minds, mental states, Theory of Mind, metacognition and more. Before starting his PhD, all of Luke’s studies were in the UK. He completed his undergraduate degree in psychology at Cardiff University and an MRes at Durham University with Dr. Zanna Clay. Luke also completed an internship at Edinburgh Zoo as part of Professor Josep Call’s Evolutionary Origins of Mind lab at the University of St Andrews before working as an RA for Professor Amanda Seed of St Andrews and Professor Katie Slocombe of the University of York. Luke is incredibly passionate about family, sports and art, and hopes to pursue more science outreach!

Giuliana Bucci-Mansilla is sitting down on the grass wearing jeans and a white long-sleeve t-shirt. Behind her there are red tulips.

Giuliana Bucci-Mansilla PhD student since 2022
gbuccim1@jhu.edu
Giuliana (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in The Dynamic Perception Lab (PI: Jason Fischer) who also collaborates with the Social and Cognitive Origins group. She feels passionate about understanding how we perceive the world around us and how we resolve physics problems in the real world. Specifically, she is interested in two main topics: 1) the understanding of visual dynamics in a complex environment and how they are related to other cognitive processes. 2) understanding how different primate species comprehend the world around them, what are the differences and commonalities between species when they have to resolve physics problems. Giuliana advocates for experiments with great ecological validity in order to understand how the mind works and how we behave in the real world. Besides science, She enjoys hiking, camping, rock climbing, animal photography, and reading adventure books.

Undergraduates

Melodie Qian is smiling and wearing gray winter clothes. The blurred background shows a tree branch and a body of water.

Melodie Qian
Melodie (they/them) is a junior undergraduate majoring in Behavioral Biology. In the lab, they're helping with several projects, including video coding for bonobo experiments. They're interested in rewilding, avian cognition, and environmental justice. In their free time, they like to play video games, pet birds, and write poetry.

Lab Alumni

Laura Lewis, PhD '22
laura_lewis@g.harvard.edu
Laura (she/her) uses non-invasive eye-tracking technology and other methods with chimpanzees and bonobos living in zoos and sanctuaries around the world to explore the evolution of great ape social cognition. She graduated from Duke University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science, and earned her PhD from Harvard University in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology in Spring 2022. SCO group’s PI, Chris Krupenye, was her primary research mentor and advisor throughout her graduate school career. Laura was recently awarded the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research with Jan Engelmann at UC Berkeley in 2022. Besides hanging out with great apes, she loves swimming in the ocean, making pottery, and hiking in the Berkeley hills.