Dr. Chang is a paleoanthropologist whose primary interests are Middle to Upper Paleolithic human evolution, the Neandertals, hominin systematics, feminist archaeology, and the role of reflexivity in human evolutionary studies. She has taught biological anthropology and human evolution at PSU since 2014. Dr. Chang graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a dual degree in physical anthropology and ecology/evolutionary biology in 2005, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral genetics at UCSF in 2008, and has conducted research and fieldwork in skeletal analysis and Paleolithic archaeology in Western Eurasia, the Middle East, and North Africa. A proponent of science education and public outreach, Dr. Chang is a former TEDx speaker (2014) and was featured in a documentary series, Human: The World Within, that is currently airing on PBS and Netflix (2021).
Selected Works:
- Human: The World Within. (2021) Netflix.
- Chang, M.L., Nowell A. (2020) “Conceiving of ‘Them’ When Before, There Was Only ‘Us.’” Archaeology of the Heart and Emotion, Supernant K. et al., eds. New York: Springer.
- Chang, M.L., Nowell, A. (2016) How to make stone soup: Is the “Paleo Diet” a missed opportunity for anthropologists? Evolutionary Anthropology 25(5):228-231. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21504
- Nowell, A., Chang, M.L. (2014) Science, the Media, and Interpretations of Upper Paleolithic Figurines. American Anthropologist 116(3):562-577. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.12121
- Chang, M.L. (2014, December) The evolving story of human evolution [VIDEO]. TEDxVictoria