Jesse W Young

Summary

I am an organismal biologist with broad interests in understanding the developmental and evolutionary biomechanics of the mammalian locomotor system. More specifically, I investigate the morphological and mechanical factors that constrain locomotor performance in mammals, and how these constraints determine the ecological capabilities of an organism across multiple time scales (i.e., over evolutionary time, developmentally during ontogeny, and instantaneously to accomplish a task at hand).

My undergraduate research focused on human motor development. I then changed course to pursue graduate research in anthropology, obtaining a Ph.D. in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University. My doctoral and postdoctoral work focused on growth and motor development in small primates and marsupials. Through these efforts I acquired extensive experience studying the biomechanics of gait in quadrupedal mammals, from infancy through maturity.

Since beginning my tenure-track faculty position in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), my research efforts have centered on two broad foci: 1) understanding the functional, and possibly adaptive, links between somatic growth and locomotor development in mammals and 2) the evolutionary biomechanics of primate arboreal locomotion.

Anatomy & Physiology Anthropology Evolutionary Studies Zoology

Past or current institution affiliations