Baldwin Fellows | The Leakey Foundation
The 2025 Baldwin Fellows
The Leakey Foundation is proud to announce the 2025 Baldwin Fellowship recipients.
The Franklin Mosher Baldwin Memorial Fellowship program was established in 1978 to expand access to advanced degrees for students from countries with limited educational opportunities. This prestigious program builds the future of science by investing in outstanding scholars, helping them become leaders in their home countries. Successful applicants come to the program with strong academic records and remarkable dedication to their chosen fields.
The 14 new and returning Baldwin Fellows represent 11 countries and a wide variety of scientific disciplines. We look forward to sharing more about these scientists and their work.
The Baldwin Fellowship is funded by generous support from Leakey Foundation donors.
Returning Baldwin Fellows
Altayeb Abdalla Hassbrabo Mohammed, Sudan
Altayeb Abdalla Hassbrabo Mohammed is enrolled in the International Master in Quaternary and Prehistory program at the University of Ferrara in Italy. Although visa-related issues delayed his arrival, he remained actively engaged with the program and worked to keep pace with coursework from his home country of Sudan.
Now in the second semester of his second year, Altayeb is completing a mobility period at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, where he is further expanding his research skills and academic experience. His research focuses on using use-wear analysis of quartz lithic collections from Central Sudan to better understand how hunter-gatherers adapted to changing landscapes at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. His long-term goal is to return to Sudan and become a professor at the University of El-Neelain.
Natalia Ginna Camargo Peña, Colombia
Natalia Camargo Peña is a second-year graduate student in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program of Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook University. She focuses on the development of social behavior in group-living primates. She is particularly interested in how maternal style and the availability of social partners influence the quality and quantity of social relationships during early life.
Natalia’s goal for the following academic year is to complete her dissertation proposal. She plans to apply for a Leakey Foundation research grant and the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant to support her dissertation data collection in the field. Following her graduate studies, Natalia’s goal is to become a professor and help develop the disciplines of primatology and evolutionary anthropology at a Colombian university.
Babalola James Jacobs, Nigeria
Babalola James Jacobs began his PhD program at Arizona State University in August 2024 and is currently completing his required coursework. He has excelled academically, taking a broad range of classes in geoarchaeology, archaeological theory, paleoenvironments, and hominin evolution. Babalola has recently formed his research committee, which includes Kathryn Ranhorn, Michael Barton, and Matthew Kroot at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. He plans to present the results of this research at conferences in 2026.
Babalola’s research interests focus on the complex dynamics of human mobility, settlement patterns, and adaptation during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. After earning his PhD, Babalola hopes to secure a faculty position in an archaeology program in Nigeria.
Penina Emanuel Kadalida, Tanzania
Penina Emanuel Kadalida is a PhD candidate in biological anthropology at the University of Minnesota. While there, in addition to her doctoral studies, she has earned a second master’s degree in biological anthropology. Beyond her academic achievements, Penina has distinguished herself as a dedicated teacher and mentor. She has also made significant contributions to paleoanthropological fieldwork and research in Kenya, particularly through her work on Miocene primate fossil sites.
Penina’s research focuses on morphological diversity in early Homo, with an emphasis on cranial shape changes associated with post-growth aging. Upon completion of her PhD, she plans to establish a paleoanthropology laboratory at the University of Dar es Salaam to help build research infrastructure and training opportunities in Tanzania.
Jacinto Adriano Mathe, Mozambique
Jacinto Adriano Mathe is in the final year of his PhD program in anthropology at the University of Oxford. A second year of Baldwin Fellowship funding will support the completion of his research and the submission of his thesis.
Jacinto’s research involves surveying and collecting osteological samples across various habitats in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, where he is also conducting ecological analyses of modern bones. Through this project, Jacinto aims to contribute to the development of Mozambique’s first osteological reference collection and to collaborate with colleagues in establishing long-term paleoanthropological research in the country.
New Baldwin Fellows
Majda El Bouhamdi, Morocco
Majda El Bouhamdi is a PhD student in primatology at Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, Morocco, where she is investigating how environmental pressures, physiological stress, and genetic diversity influence social behavior in Barbary macaques. Her research focuses on macaque populations in the fragmented habitats of the Rif Mountains. She has a background in biodiversity, ecosystem management, and conservation, holding a master’s degree in oceanography and a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Abdelmalek Essaadi University.
As part of her doctoral training, Majda will spend a three-month period at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, where she will receive laboratory training in genetic and endocrine analysis under the mentorship of Patrick Tkaczynski. This training will provide her with advanced skills in analyzing fecal samples for stress hormone levels and genetic markers, key components of her research in examining how isolated macaque populations maintain cooperation under pressure. Majda plans to continue working at the intersection of primatology and conservation in Morocco after completing her PhD, with the goal of becoming a university professor.
Divyendu Divakar Kashyap, India
Divyendu Divakar Kashyap will begin his PhD in evolutionary anthropology at Arizona State University in the fall of 2025, where he will study under the mentorship of Denise Su at the Institute of Human Origins. His research explores the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of East African Plio-Pleistocene ecosystems, with a focus on how functional traits of fossil mammals, such as diet, locomotion, and body size, reflect adaptation to climate change and resource fluctuations. Divyendu is particularly interested in how these changes affected early hominins, their environments, and interactions with other species.
Divyendu holds an Erasmus Mundus Master in Quaternary and Prehistory, completed through the University of Ferrara and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, as well as an MA in historical studies from Nalanda University, India. His previous research involved geometric morphometric analysis of hominin and primate cranial endocasts, which deepened his interest in the functional and ecological dimensions of human evolution. He also brings field experience from archaeological sites in Italy and Indonesia.
Following his PhD, Divyendu plans to return to India to advance paleoanthropological research at Quaternary sites through interdisciplinary methods. His long-term goal is to establish collaborative projects and training programs in paleoecology.
Edmond Kipkurui Kimulwo, Kenya
Edmond Kipkurui Kimulwo began his PhD in biological anthropology at the University of Michigan in August 2024. He previously earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Moi University and is currently completing his master’s degree with a thesis focused on the characterization of dietary shifts in fossil proboscideans from the Tugen Hills in Kenya.
As a PhD student, Edmond will build on this research by conducting fieldwork in the Baringo Basin, a region rich in fossiliferous sediments spanning more than 16 million years. His doctoral project will integrate faunal, isotopic, and geological data to reconstruct ancient habitats and examine how environmental shifts shaped mammalian and hominin evolution. He brings experience from the National Museums of Kenya, where he has volunteered and worked since his undergraduate years, and where he has also contributed to the Baringo Paleontological Research Project.
Edmond plans to return to Kenya to contribute to research and training efforts through institutions like the National Museums of Kenya and local universities.
Nacim Mazouni, Algeria
Nacim Mazouni is beginning a PhD in Quaternary geology and prehistory at the University Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, with training based at the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES). Originally from Algeria, Nacim holds degrees in archaeology and prehistory from the University of Algiers and earned a second master’s in Quaternary studies from Rovira i Virgili. He currently works as an assistant curator at the Bardo National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography in Algiers.
Nacim has extensive field experience across Algeria and Spain, including at early hominin sites such as Ain Boucherit, Tighennif, and El Kherba. He has assisted in both excavation and geological sampling, gaining skills in sediment analysis and stratigraphic interpretation. His doctoral work builds on this foundation to investigate site formation processes and the environmental contexts of early hominin activity in North Africa.
Following his PhD, Nacim plans to return to Algeria, where he aims to help integrate geoarchaeological methods into archaeological research and teaching. With few trained specialists in Quaternary sediment studies in Algeria, he hopes to fill the gap by contributing to research, training, and museum-based science through national institutions such as the Bardo Museum and local universities.
Sylvester Musyoka Musembi, Kenya
Sylvester Musyoka Musembi is a second-year master’s student in anthropology at Moi University in Kenya, where he is conducting paleoenvironmental research focused on the Olorgesailie Basin. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Paul’s University and has worked for over eight years as a fossil preparator and assistant research scientist at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). Through his work with the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program and extensive fieldwork in the Olorgesailie Basin, Homa Peninsula, and France, Sylvester has developed expertise in fossil curation, paleontology, and archaeological field methods.
His master’s research investigates environmental and dietary patterns during the Pleistocene by analyzing bovid dental remains. Using mesowear and hypsodonty indices, complemented by stable isotope analysis, Sylvester is reconstructing past vegetation and climate in a region critical to understanding early hominin adaptation and survival.
Sylvester plans to continue in a PhD program, where he will expand his research on mammalian migration and dietary adaptation in hominin-rich landscapes.
Emmanuel Kipruto Ngetich, Kenya
Emmanuel Kipruto Ngetich is pursuing a PhD in biological anthropology at the University of Minnesota under the co-supervision of Kieran McNulty and Maria Nieves-Colón. Emmanuel previously earned an MS in ecology and evolution and a BS in biological sciences from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.
His doctoral work focuses on the Abasuba people of Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, combining modern and ancient genomic analysis with oral history to trace the origins and interactions of these communities. He aims to reconstruct patterns of population movement and genetic variation from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene, using both contemporary DNA samples and ancient human remains from the island. The project addresses a significant gap in the global representation of African genomes and contributes to a deeper understanding of how historical migrations have shaped present-day populations in Eastern Africa. Emmanuel is also deeply committed to community-engaged research, having developed the project in close partnership with the Mfangano Island community and the National Museums of Kenya.
Emmanuel plans to return to Kenya after completing his PhD to establish capacity in ancient DNA research, a field currently underserved across Africa.
Eva Stela Nomenjanahary, Madagascar
Eva Stela Nomenjanahary will begin her PhD in anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder in the fall of 2025, under the supervision of Nancy Stevens. Originally from Madagascar, she holds a Master II in primatology from the University of Antananarivo. Over the past several years, Eva Stela has gained extensive field experience through her work on projects involving nocturnal lemur vocalizations, biodiversity assessments, and primate conservation in both Madagascar and West Africa. Most recently, she served as a research assistant with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation’s Moyen Bafing Chimpanzee Project in Guinea.
Her doctoral research will build on this experience by integrating behavioral ecology, bioacoustics, and species distribution modeling to examine how primates communicate and adapt in increasingly disturbed environments. She is particularly interested in how anthropogenic changes, such as habitat fragmentation, affect primate vocal behavior and ecology.
Eva Stela plans to return to Madagascar after completing her PhD, where she will focus on capacity-building and research development. Her goals include establishing a research program in primate behavioral ecology and conservation.
Asithandile Ntsondwa, South Africa
Asithandile Ntsondwa is pursuing a PhD in anthropological archaeology at New York University, where she is studying under the supervision of Justin Pargeter. Originally from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, she has a background in botany and paleoecology, having completed both her MS and BS degrees at Nelson Mandela University. Her earlier research focused on reconstructing Holocene fire histories and environmental change along South Africa’s Southern Cape Coast, which laid the groundwork for her current investigation into human-environment interactions and the role of fire in shaping ancient landscapes.
At NYU, Asithandile is conducting doctoral research that combines anthracology, paleoecology, and archaeology to explore how ancient human groups influenced fire regimes in the Greater Cape Floristic Region. Her project involves analyzing archaeological charcoal from Boomplaas Cave and off-site fire records from hyrax middens in the Swartberg Mountains to test hypotheses about human use of fire as a landscape management tool. This interdisciplinary approach aims to challenge long-standing narratives that early hunter-gatherers were passive recipients of environmental change.
Upon completion of her PhD, Asithandile plans to return to South Africa to develop academic programs in archaeobotany and paleoecology, areas with limited local expertise.
Joyce Waithira Waweru, Kenya
Joyce Waithira Waweru is pursuing a PhD in human paleobiology at George Washington University, where she is researching the origins and development of early human stone tool culture, under the supervision of David Braun. She holds a master’s degree in archaeology from the University of Nairobi and a bachelor’s degree in archaeology and sociology from Kenyatta University. Joyce has more than a decade of experience in archaeological fieldwork across Kenya and Ethiopia, including long-standing involvement with the Koobi Fora Field School and an internship at the National Museums of Kenya.
Joyce’s research investigates the cognitive and cultural foundations of early hominin technology by examining how Oldowan stone tools were produced, transmitted, and evolved over time. Through experimental archaeology, brain imaging (fNIRS), and comparative lithic analysis, she is testing whether tool production in early hominins reflects social learning or independent invention. Her dissertation represents one of the first studies to integrate neuroarchaeology with archaeological field data from non-Western populations, bringing new insights into the role of cultural transmission in human evolution.
Following her PhD, Joyce plans to return to Kenya to work with both the National Museums of Kenya and local universities.
