Karen Samonds

Karen Samonds is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at NIU where she specializes in vertebrate paleontology and human anatomical sciences.

Her lab studies how, when, and from where Madagascar’s modern fauna arrived. Karen is a National Geographic Explorer; her field work largely focuses on remote regions of Madagascar searching for Cenozoic fossils.

She has a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Anatomical Sciences from Stony Brook University.

In her spare time, she enjoys horseback riding, gardening, drinking good coffee, and traveling with her family.