Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Helen Fisher, Love Expert

Dr. Helen Fisher, Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com

 

Dr. Helen Fisher, who passed away from cancer in 2024, was a world renowned anthropologist known for her extensive work on love.  Beginning with her doctoral research Fisher focused much of her research on understanding how and why people fall in love.  She also sought to understand biocultural patterns of love related to the psychology, culture, and biology of love; infidelity and divorce; and much more.  Today’s blog post will summarize Fisher’s broad career.

 

Helen Fisher (and her twin sister) was born in 1945 in New York City. Her father was an executive for Time magazine and her mother a floral designer.  From a young age Fisher was encouraged to “be useful as well as ornamental.”  This may have led her to study psychology and anthropology at New York University, as well as to the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she earned her Masters and Ph.D. in anthropology.  It was during her doctoral research that she began studying the biological anthropological aspects of love and set her on her career trajectory.

 

After graduating with her doctorate Fisher took on a short-term job as a research editor at Reader’s Digest General Books.  She moved on from here to a career in academia.  She took up teaching and research positions at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the New School for Social Research, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. 

 

It was also during this time that she published several books.  Her first book was published in 1982 and focused on the development of human female sexuality and the root of the nuclear family.  She followed this one up nearly a decade later with a book on the cross-cultural study of infidelity and divorce/marriage endings.  It was during her research for this book that she refuted the popular claim of the “seven year itch”, the idea that relationships end after seven years.  She actually identified that most relationships end at the four year mark.  The reason was simple: people could move on and find a better relationship, allowing them additional time to either have their first children or additional children.  Four additional books followed suit, including one that she submitted days before her death in August 2024.

 

In 2004 Fisher’s work caught the attention of the CEOs of Match.com.  They recruited her to work for their company to improve their mission: linking people up with their optimal love match.  It was here in her capacity as chief scientific advisor where she relied upon her biological anthropological expertise, delved into psychology and neuroscience, and drew on cultural anthropological subject matter to create the Fisher Temperament Inventory, a 62-part questionnaire derived from data collected from six million individuals.  This questionnaire was created through the use of brain scan and survey data collected and analyzed by Fisher and her team at Match.  The questionnaire continues to be used by Match today, which is part of the reason for its success in the matchmaking business.

 

While Fisher dedicated her career to studying love she was less lucky in it.  Her first marriage in the 1960s lasted four months, but it was in the years before her death that she managed to fall in love and married.  Their love story was anything but conventional.  Although short lived it was very fulfilling and left them both very happy. 

 

References

Fisher, H. (2024). Helen Fisher, Ph.D. Retrieved from Helen Fisher, Ph.D.: https://helenfisher.com/

Jones, N. (2021, February 10). Is Love a Biological Reality? Retrieved from Sapiens.org: https://www.sapiens.org/biology/biological-anthropology-love/

Telegraph Obituaries. (2024, August 29). Helen Fisher, scientist who scanned the brains of people in love and the brokenhearted. The Telegraph, pp. https://www.yahoo.com/news/helen-fisher-scientist-scanned-brains-150000011.html.

The Times. (2024, September 4). Helen Fisher obituary: popular academic on love, attraction and sexual behaviour. The Times of London.

 

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Genevieve Bell, Intel's Secret Weapon

Genevieve Bell (Source: J.R. Mankoff)

One could make a legitimate claim that Genevieve Bell was born to be an anthropologist.  Her mother was a well known Australian anthropologist, and Genevieve accompanied her mother throughout her field studies and work with Australian Aboriginal groups.  Genevieve followed in her mother’s footsteps as she went on to pursue her studies in anthropology.  She earned her Bachelors and Masters in the subject from Bryn Mawr College, followed by her Doctorate from Stanford. 

 

Upon completion of her degrees Genevieve taught at Stanford, but she did not find the work completely fulfilling.  When someone suggested she apply for a job at Intel, American multinational corporation and technology company that specializes in computers, she applied but was unsure how she would fit in.  She said as much during the interview.  Despite her doubts, she was offered the job, and one her first day her new employer said that she was selected because of expertise on women and the “rest of the world,” referencing the people and places outside of the American market. 

 

Genevieve’s first position at Intel was in Research and Development, and over time she led Intel’s first User Experience (UX) laboratory.  Her most recent position is as the Intel Fellow and a Vice President in the Corporate Strategy Office.  She advanced to this prestigious leadership position because of her sharp wit, critical eye, and open world view, incorporating the anthropological skills she learned as a child and through her educational experiences. 

 

Genevieve is credited in pioneering and creating several Intel products.  One is the China Home Learning PC.  This product directly came from Genevieve’s interviews with Chinese parents who were hesitant in purchasing computers for the home because they feared the PC would be a distraction to their children.  This specific PC allows users to limit computer use, allowing parents to prevent children from playing games or using the internet when they were supposed to be completing homework.  Another product she and her UX Laboratory team created was technology that allowed car owners to better sync their personal devices to their cars.  This was a path that went counter to where car markers were going, who felt consumers wanted more technological gadgets attached to their car.  Genevieve and her colleagues’ interviews of people throughout the world recognized that people want to use those gadgets outside of the car, hence why syncing personal, mobile devices was more important than creating gadgets in the car. 

 

In Genevieve’s own words, she focuses on creating “market-inspired, experience-driven and then technology-delivered” products, which is key to her success at Intel.  It is also why she has received numerous awards.  She has received the Fast Company’s 2010 “100 Most Creative People In Business and the 2013 Woman of Vision for Leadership award by the Anita Borg Institute.  She was also inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2012.

 

Works Cited

Australia, G. o. (2011). Who is Genevieve Bell? Retrieved from Adelaide Thinkers in Residence: http://www.thinkers.sa.gov.au/thinkers/bell/who.aspx

Fields, R. (2015, July 16). The Culture Q&A: Intel's Genevieve Bell (Part 1). Forbes.

Singer, N. (2014, February 15). Intel’s Sharp-Eyed Social Scientist. New York Times.

 

Understanding the Past to Solve Today’s Problems: Adaptability to Climate Change among Diverse African Populations

There is an old adage that goes, “Those who do not understand the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes.”  This rings true not only within historical contexts but others, as well, particularly concerning contemporary issues, such as contemporary climate change.  A group of scholars recently published their study wherein they successfully argued for a holistic understanding of the history of subsistence strategies in order to best aid contemporary societies.  They used African populations as their evidence.  These chose these populations not specifically due to the data available to analyze and test their ideas, but because contemporary African populations are most sensitive and impacted by modern climate change, necessitating a viable solution to the contemporary problems they are currently facing.

 

In their study Phelps et al. examined isotopic, ecological, and archaeological data from African populations that existed over the past 11,000 years.  They noted that near the beginning of this temporal span (as in 11,000 years ago) the African continent was much wetter and tropical, and over time it became drier and more arid.  By examining the isotopic data, which showed peoples’ diets over time, as well as archaeological data to help infer subsistence strategies of said people, they were able to identify how African populations were best able to sustain themselves in the face of climatic shifts. 

 

They ultimately reached the conclusion that those populations that were most resilient were those that utilized a mix of subsistence strategies, not just one.  Africa populations that engaged in a combination of farming, foraging and hunting, fishing, and herding/pastoralism were better able to survive during long periods of environmental changes and uncertainty. 

 

The reason this information is important is because it can be used to assist not only contemporary African populations but other populations across the world as climate change continues.  "If we want climate solutions and global environmental change solutions to work, they need to be rooted in an understanding of the way that people have been using available resources throughout time," said Phelps.  This makes sense as it acknowledges people’s familiarity with their own environments and ways of surviving within them without drastically transforming their ways of life during stressful periods.  It also draws upon successful strategies that worked in the past and most likely will continue to do so in the present, thereby allowing for informed decision making that will increase the likelihood of successful implementation.

 

References

Fowler, R. (2025, June 26). African societies survived climate shifts for millennia by diversifying how they lived. Phys.org.

Phelps, L. N., Davis, D. S., Chen, J. C., Moore, S., Mangut, C., Lehmann, C. E., & Douglass, K. (2025, June 20). Africa-wide diversification of livelihood strategies: Isotopic insights into Holocene human adaptations to climate change. One Earth.

 

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Herman Pontzer

Dr. Herman Pontzer

Dr. Herman Pontzer is a bit of a maverick in the anthropological community.  He employs traditional research methods and tools to answer questions concerning human evolution, but the conclusions he reaches stretch and often contradict the expectations of his peers.  He is a widely published scholar who has articles published in prestigious journals and books, but he also not afraid and does not shy away from ensuring the public hears about his work.  He takes to social media and talk shows to share his conclusions.  All in all he is an interesting character who is helping not only scholars better understand the biological aspects of how we became the human species we are today, but also how that information can be used to enhance the athletic potential of endurance athletes and the health outcomes of the average individual living within industrialized societies. 

 

Dr. Herman Pontzer is currently employed at Duke University’s Global Health Institute, where he leads his own laboratory.  He and his team study human and nonhuman primate physiology, specifically examining the effects of ecology, lifestyle, diet, and evolution on metabolism (the ability to burn calories into energy) and health.  He applies these understandings to better understand how and why certain diseases (e.g., diabetes and heart disease) are more common in industrialized groups versus non-industrialized ones (e.g., foragers). 

 

It was through the employment of methods created and refined by physiologists that he established a great deal of information and conclusions that have stretched the scholarship on human evolution and human physiology.  For example, he identified that exercise in and of itself does not lead to greater caloric expenditure.  Human bodies, which require a great deal of calories to maintain appropriate functioning of the expansive and complex brain, will compensate for energy expenditures as needed in order to keep enough energy for the brain.  This conclusion refutes a longstanding and popular idea that one can exclusively exercise themselves to a better body.  Instead, his work supports the conclusion that it is a balanced diet and exercise that allows one to get the body they want.

 

These conclusions were reached through the financial support of various grants, such as the prestigious Wenner-Gren grants, as well as work on both animal and human subjects.  His initial research started with dogs, but then graduated to goat and later nonhuman primate, specifically ape, species.  After continually discovering that larger animals expend fewer calories than smaller ones, except for humans, he moved on to studying modern populations, including foraging groups in Africa, horticulturalists in South America, and industrialized populations in the United States.  It was through comparative studies of contemporary human groups that he realized that exercise is not the only factor in burning calories.  The applications of his research can and do help those working in nutrition, athletics/exercise physiology, and human health.

 

His conclusions have not been accepted without criticism.  There were those who were hesitant to accept his conclusions because they ran counter to expected results, but with greater research these concerns have decreased.  Currently the concerns are in the delivery of the information to the public, specifically in encouraging those interested in weight loss to take on unhealthy diets.  Pontzer is unafraid of the critiques.  In his interview with Science magazine, he remarked: “When you have a bad experience and life plucks you off your track, it’s scary. You have to move forward, though, and that teaches you not to be scared of new things.”  This philosophy has undoubtedly helped him move past the negative critiques and foster better scientific research that  is helping not just the scientific community but the general public as well.

 

Bibliography

Gibbons, A. (2022, February 17). The Calorie Counter: Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer busts myths about how humans burn calories—and why. Science.

Pontzer, H. (n.d.). Herman Pontzer, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health. Retrieved from Duke Global Health Institute: https://globalhealth.duke.edu/people/pontzer-herman

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Dr. Tracy Rone, Applied Educational and Linguistic Anthropologist

Dr. Tracy Rone

Education is considered an essential means of allowing and enabling individuals to better themselves.  This betterment is not just about improving one’s mind and skills but then applying what is learned to gainful employment.  Through gainful employment one can earn money to allow them a better way of life.  This is all well in good, but in practice there remain various barriers for certain groups of people.  These barriers make it difficult to achieve not only academic but also socioeconomic success.  Various scholars have recognized and studied these issues, applying what they learn to improving educational institutions and attainment among these institutions’ pupils.  Today’s blog post features one such scholar, Dr. Tracy Rone, who has and continues to apply what she is learning through her research to make educational better for students in the mid-Atlantic area.

 

Dr. Tracy Rone is a linguistic anthropologist by training.  She earned a B.A. from Goucher College, her M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.  In her research she critically studies urban education programs, particularly within contexts of poorly funded and under resourced educational institutions and districts.  She specifically focuses on how to improve these institutions to aid students in improving their educational experiences, but she also explores the micro (individual) level aspects of education.  This had led her to focus on identity and educational attainment, the impacts on health and educational disparities, and experiential learning.

 

Her passions in education and equity have led her to take on various roles.  Since joining the faculty at Morgan State University in 2007 she has served in several positions.  She is currently an Assistant Dean, Research and Community Partnerships, and Associate Professor in the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership, and Policy in the School of Education and Urban Studies at Morgan State University.  She was previously the Interim Director of Innovation and Community Partnerships. 

 

Outside of the university setting she works as an applied anthropologist.  She was the Research Co-director for the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), a partnership founded by Baltimore City Public Schools, Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University.  She is also the Equity Task Force Co-Chair for Transform Mid-Atlantic, an organization that works in partnership with higher education institutions to increase educational equity within these institutions and their surrounding communities.  She took on the responsibility of developing and implementing many programmatic needs of Transform Mid-Atlantic’s work, as well as acted as the liaison for the organization and her university.  Her efforts were recognized when she was awarded the Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award.

 

 

Dr. Rone’s work continues as she seeks to improve educational equity for students.  While her work is concentrated on the mid-Atlantic region, it is work that is applicable to students across the United States, ultimately benefiting all who use her work to accomplish and further her goals.

 

Works Cited

Association of Black Anthropologists. ABA Executive Board, Association of Black Anthropologists. 2025. Electronic. 30 April 2025.

Morgan State University. Dr. Tracy Rone, School of Education and Urban Studies. 2025. Electronic. 30 April 2025.

Transform Mid-Atlantic. Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness (JEDI) Initiative. 2025. Electronic. 30 April 2025.

Applied Anthropologist Profile: Oscar Nilsson, Archaeologist, Sculptor, and Forensic Artist

Oscar Nilsson working on reconstructing a face (Source: Nilsson, 2025)

 

Recreating the faces and bodies of the dead is no easy task, but it is one that forensic artists must do when a positive identification of a victim cannot be otherwise made.  These forensic reconstructions, which often focus on individual’s faces, are based on over a century’s worth of data and information about facial attributes.  The location and placement of the facial muscles, skin depths based on an individual’s weight, and more must be understood in order to construct an accurate recreation.  Using this knowledge, along with pegs and clay, a forensic artist can masterfully bring the deceased individual back to life, or at least reconstruct what they may have looked like in life. 

 

These very methods have been employed outside of forensic contexts and criminal investigations to create life like restorations of what historical figures and people of the past may have looked like.  This work has been undertaken by the Kennis Brothers, but they are not the only individuals working within this area.  Today’s blog post will discuss another archaeologist, sculptor, and forensic artist, Oscar Nilsson.

 

Oscar Nilsson has been reconstructing ancient and historical figures’ faces for almost 30 years.  He opened his studio, O.D. Nilsson, in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996.  Since then he has been responsible for over 80 creations of men, women, and children from throughout human history that are on display in museums across Europe and the United States.  His most notable creations include those of Peruvian and European royalty, a woman accused of being a vampire in Poland, ancient Vikings, Ice Mummies of South America, and more.

 

While much of Nilsson’s work is based on forensic sculpting techniques he acknowledges that there is a bit of creative license required of his work.  While there are precise methods for understanding how to recreate the form of a human face there is no specific rules on knowing what someone’s skin, hair, or eye color was, the texture of their hair, what facial hair would have been present, etc.  This is where his bioarchaeological knowledge comes into play.  He used to rely on ancient demographic data to make educated guesses on these specific features, as well as cultural ones concerning hair styles.  Today, when and where available, he instead turns to paleogenetic data to better inform him on what these features were to create a more accurate visage.

 

He also relies on various other newer technologies to more accurately create his works.  If and when the skull is too fragile to handle or is fragmentary and/or missing portions he relies on CT scans to help recreate the skull.  Again, he relies on paleodemographic data to estimate what the missing cranial features may have looked like.  Nilsson has also ventured into using Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to scan and review skulls to identify any features that the naked eye may have missed. 

 

Ultimately, he is concerned with accuracy in his work and wants to bring to life the ancient individuals he is tasks with working on as realistically as possible.  This attention to detail has made him a highly sought after artist, as well as given him a reputation of excellence.

 

References

Archaeology Magazine. (2024, November 1). 400-Year-Old Face of “Zosia” Reconstructed. Archaeology Magazine.

Cottier, C. (2025, February 7). Art and Science Combine to Reconstruct the Faces of Our Ancestors. Discover.

Fox, A. (2020, June 3). See the Face of a Man Whose Skull Was Mounted on a Stake 8,000 Years Ago. Smithsonian Magazine.

Katz, B. (2018, February 2). Experts Reconstruct the Face of a Mesolithic-Era Teenager. Smithsonian Magazine.

Nilsson, O. (2025). OD Nilsson - Contact & Requests. Retrieved from Art & Science by O.D. Nilsson: https://www.odnilsson.com/about-me/