Laura Brubaker-Wittman is a doctoral candidate in the biological anthropology program at Boston University. Her doctoral research focuses on the human-nonhuman primate interface by using the mixed methodology of ethnoprimatology, incorporating theories and techniques from cultural and biological anthropology. Specifically, her work asks questions about how orangutans and humans interact and co-exist in landscapes shaped by human disturbance and what this means for orangutan health and behavior.

As a Fulbright US Student Researcher in Indonesia, Laura is researching orangutans in the wild during the habituation process, analyzing physiological stress markers, and writing a multispecies ethnography on the relationships created between humans and orangutans. She is affiliated with Universitas Nasional in Jakarta and the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Project (GPOCP) in West Kalimantan. She hopes her work can bring together science, conservation, and environmental justice to help protect orangutans and support local communities simultaneously.

Laura holds a master’s degree in sustainable development and policy advocacy from the School for International Training and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Colorado.