Susan Alberts

Susan C. Alberts is an American primatologist, anthropologist, and biologist who is the current Chair of the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University; previously, she served as a Bass fellow and the Robert F. Durden Professor of Biology at Duke. She currently co-directs the Amboseli Baboon Research Project with Jeanne Altmann of Princeton University.

Education Alberts received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Reed College in 1983, and went on to earn a Master of Arts in Biology from University of California, Los Angeles in 1987. She earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution at University of Chicago in 1992 for her work with her advisor, Jeanne Altmann. She pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago as an NIH Fellow, and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard University, and a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe. She has been on the faculty at Duke since 1998.

Research Alberts' research focuses on the interplay between environment, genetics, and behavior. Early in her career, her research focused largely on the behavior of male baboons through dispersal, mate guarding, social rank within the group, Her most recent work focuses on the social dimensions of aging and how early-life adversity affects behavior, body size and immune function

Alberts has also served as an editor for numerous peer-reviewed journals in a variety of fields, including Behavioral Ecology (journal), the American Journal of Primatology, and PeerJ. 2021 - Sewall Wright Award 2016 - Cozzarelli Prize. National Academy of Sciences, USA. 2012 - Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Duke University. 2010 - Thomas Langford Lectureship, Duke University. Duke University. 2009 - Distinguished Teaching and Service Award. Department of Biology, Duke University. 2001 - Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. National Science Foundation.

Elected fellowships Fellowships: 2014 - American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2012 - American Association for the Advancement of Science 2012 - Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Duke University 2010 - Thomas Langford Lectureship, Duke University 2009 - Distinguished Teaching and Service Award. Department of Biology, Duke University 2008 - Animal Behavior Society 2007 - Bass Society of Fellows, Duke University 2006-2007 - Faculty Fellowship, Social Sciences Research Institute, Duke University 1994-1997 - Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows 1993-1994 - NIH National Research Service Award Post-doctoral Fellowship, University of Chicago 1983-1985 - Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship for Research and Travel Abroad