Dieter & Netzin Steklis
Dr
. H. Dieter
Steklis came to the University of Arizona in 2004 and to the U of A South in
2007, where he has held several teaching and administrative positions,
including that of Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Presently, he serves as
Chief Academic Officer, Interim Division Chair of Commerce and BAS Programs,
and Professor of Psychology. He is also an Affiliated Faculty member of the University
of Arizona’s McClelland Inst. for Children, Youth, and Families.
After earning his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University
of California, Berkeley, Dr. Steklis began his academic career at Rutgers
University, the State University of New Jersey, where he rose through the ranks
to the position of Professor and Chair of the Dept. of Anthropology. While at
Rutgers, Dr. Steklis also held a faculty appointment in the Dept. of Psychiatry
at Rutgers Medical School (UMDNJ), where his neurobiological research was
based, and where he contributed to the Behavioral Sciences teaching program. Dr.
Steklis left Rutgers in 2004 and was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of
Primatology, in recognition of his many years of teaching, research, and
service to the university.
Alongside his academic appointments, Dr. Steklis also held several leadership positionswith the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to gorilla research and conservation in Africa. He served as Director of the Fund’s field research center in Rwanda (1991-1993), as Executive Director (1993-1995), and as Chief Scientist and Vice-President (1995-2005). As of 2005, Dr. Steklis serves as Affiliate Scientist for the Fund.
Dr. Steklis’ research, scholarship, and teaching interests span several disciplines, first brought together during his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, including comparative anatomy, neurobiology, biological anthropology, and primatology. Much of his research career has focused on laboratory and field studies of the behavioral biology of monkeys and apes, including studies of the neural and hormonal bases of social behavior in monkeys. In the early 1980s, Dr. Steklis added a clinical component to his research by focusing on the neurobiology of human social behavior and cognition, while serving as Visiting Associate Professor in the Dept. Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and as Clinical Neurophysiologist in the Dept. of Psychiatry at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Medical Center.
A few years later, Dr. Steklis once again expanded his research interests to include fieldwork on the behavior and ecology of African apes in the wild, including free-ranging chimpanzees in eastern Zaire now Democratic Republic of Congo) and the mountain gorilla of the Virunga volcanoes region of Central - East Africa. Along with his wife and frequent collaborator --Netzin Gerald Steklis-- his aim has been to better understand the connections between biology, behavior, and ecology, and, in the case of mountain gorillas, to explore how this understanding might better guide conservation programs. In recognition of their conservation work, in 2002, he and his wife received the Explorers Club “Champions of Wildlife Award”, and their work has been featured in national and international magazines, numerous television broadcasts (including National Geographic), and radio programs.
Netzin Gerald Steklis, M.A.
For more than 15 years, Netzin Gerald Steklis has served the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International as the Director Scientific Information Resources and Affiliate Scientist. She holds a double B.A. in Anthropology and Biology from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University.
Her research experience on wild monkeys and
apes in Central America and Africa includes field study
of howler monkey calls in Costa Rica, the behavioral ecology of wild
chimpanzees in eastern Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), followed by
research at the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda on the vocalizations and social
organization of mountain gorillas. Further research
focused on mountain gorilla life history, mountain gorilla population size and
density, distribution and vital statistics, the application of GIS technology
to mountain gorilla behavior and conservation, and biodiversity assessment and
education. She periodically serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of
Arizona in Anthropology and Psychology and is an Affiliate Faculty member of
the University of Arizona’s Psychology Department and McClelland
Institute for Children, Youth, and Families, with a focus on primate families.
In addition to
her own research interests, Netzin is a frequent collaborator with her husband
(Dr. H. Dieter Steklis) on research projects concerning mountain gorilla personality,
behavior, biology and conservation, and their work together has been featured
in national and international magazines, on numerous television broadcasts
(including National Geographic) and radio programs, and they lecture to various
audiences across the country.
In recognition of their conservation work, in 2002, Dieter and Netzin received the Explorers Club “Champions of Wildlife Award”.
Netzin is also active in the conservation of the unique and diverse landscape of southern Arizona, and currently serves as the Program Coordinator for Cienega Watershed Partnership, whose mission is to facilitate cooperative actions that steward the natural and cultural resources of the Cienega Watershed while enabling sustainable human use. Netzin’s activities also include curriculum development and teaching experiential environmental education programs.
Netzin’s
current activities and interests include several areas: 1. The comparative study of cognition, personality
and life history; 2. The study of
primate social systems and families; 3. The biopsychology of human-animal interactions; 4. Conservation and environmental
education—including ‘citizen science’, environmental ethics, natural resource
monitoring and stewardship, and education reform.
Recent Publications
Stoinski, T., Steklis, H.D. and Mehlman, P.T. (eds.) Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study. New York, NY: Springer, 2007.
Gerald Steklis, N. and Steklis, H.D. The value of long-term research: The mountain gorilla as a case study. In: Stoinski, T., Steklis, H.D. and Mehlman, P.T. (eds.) pp. 150-173, Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study. New York, NY: Springer, 2007.
Steklis, H.D., Madry, S., Gerald Steklis, N. and Faust, N. An integrated Geomatics research program for mountain gorilla behavior and conservation. In: Stoinski, T., Steklis, H.D. and Mehlman, P.T. (eds.), pp. 228-252, Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study. New York, NY: Springer, 2007.
Steklis, H.D. and Gerald Steklis, N. Minding Gorillas and the Gorilla’s Mind.
International Society for Neuroethology Newsletter, April 2009, pp. 2-5.
Steklis, H.D. and Gerald Steklis, N. Reframing Primate Conservation Education.
American Journal of Primatology (submitted).