Rob joined the Anthropology faculty of Kenyon College as a visiting assistant professor for the 2012-2013 school year. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Zoology from Miami University of Ohio (1999), a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Alberta (2002), and a Ph.D. in Integrative and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Southern California (2011).

Rob is trained as a primatologist, and studies nonhuman primates for their own merits but also as a means to gain insight into human behavior, biology and evolution. He has worked with or conduced research on anthropoid primates in a variety of captive and wild settings, including the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. (orangutans), the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in Phuket, Thailand (white-handed gibbons), and Santa Rose National Park in Costa Rica (white-faced capuchins).

From 2008-2010, Rob conducted dissertation work on the soical, environmental, and nutritional aspects of insect-eating by the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania. In 2012, he organized and co-chaired (with W.C. McGrew of Cambridge University) a symposium entitled, "The Other Faunivory: The Significance of Insects, Insect Resources for Nonhuman Primates, Modern Humans, and Extinct Hominins" at the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Areas of Expertise

Primate ecology & behavior, Primate conservation, Human evolution

Education

PhD in Integrative and Evolutionary Biology, University of Southern California
MA in Anthropology, University of Alberta
BA in Zoology and Anthropology, Miami University of Ohio

Selected Publications

O'Malley RC, Wallauer B, Murray CM, Goodall J. (in press) The appearance and spread of ant-fishing among the Kasekela chimpanzees of Gombe: A Case of inter-community transmission of a cultural behavior? Current Anthropology.

O'Malley RC, Power M. (in press) Nutritional composition of actual and potential insect prey for the Kasekela chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. American Journal of Physical Anthroplogy.

Stewart FA, Piel AK, O'Malley RC. (2011) Responses of chimpanzees to a dead community member at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. American Journal of Primatology. 74:1-7.

Courses Taught

ANTH 111 Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Fall 2012)

ANTH 391 Primate Behavior and Ecology (Fall 2012)