Department of Anthropology

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

John David Polk PhD

Associate Professor of Anthropology

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Contact

  • Office:
    Anthropology 109 Davenport Hall 607 S Mathews M/C 148 Urbana, IL 61801
  • Phone: (217)333-3676
  • Email: jdpolk@illinois.edu

Education

PhD 2001 Stony Brook University; MA 1997 Stony Brook University; BSc 1993 University of Toronto

Research Interests

Biomechanics of Locomotion; Functional Morphology; Human and Primate Evolution; Human Anatomy and Variation

Courses

ANTH 102 Human Origins and Culture; ANTH 240 Biological Anthropology; ANTH 408 Human Evolutionary Anatomy; ANTH 440 Human Paleontology; ANTH 446 Behavioral Inference and Fossils; ANTH 456 Human Osteology; BMS 622 Gross Anatomy

Publications

Other

  • Polk JD, Demes B, Jungers WL, Heinrich RE, Biknevicius AR and Runestad JA 2000. A comparison of primate, carnivoran and rodent limb bone cross-sectional properties: Are primates really unique? Journal of Human Evolution 39:297-325.
  • Polk JD 2002. Adaptive and phylogenetic influences on musculoskeletal design in cercopithecine primates. Journal of Experimental Biology. 205:3399-3412.
  • Lieberman DE, Pearson OM, Polk JD, Demes B, and Crompton AW. 2003. Optimization of bone growth and remodeling in response to loading in tapered mammalian limbs. Journal of Experimental Biology. 206: 3125-3138.
  • Lieberman DE, Polk JD, and Demes B. 2004. Predicting long bone loading from cross-sectional geometry. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 123:156-171
  • Polk JD 2004. The influence of body size and limb proportions on joint posture in terrestrial monkeys and fossil hominins. Journal of Human Evolution. 47:237-252.
  • Polk JD, Psutka SP and Demes B 2005. Sampling frequencies and measurement error in primate gait studies. Journal of Human Evolution. 49:665-679.
  • Pontzer H, Lieberman DE, Momin E, Devlin MJ, Polk JD, Hallgrímsson B, and Cooper DML. 2006. Trabecular bone in the bird knee responds with high sensitivity to changes in load orientation. Journal of Experimental Biology. 209: 57-65.
  • Hanna JB, Polk JD and Schmitt D. 2006. Forelimb and hindlimb forces in walking and galloping primates. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 130:529-535.
  • Polk JD, Blumenfeld J, Ahluwalia K. 2008. Knee Posture Predicted from Subchondral Apparent Density in the Distal Femur: An Experimental Validation The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology. 291:293–302.
  • Polk JD, Spencer-Smith J, DiBerardino L, Ellis D, Downen M, Rosengren KS, 2008. Quantifying Phase Portraits: Application to Gait Ontogeny. Infant Behavior and Development 31:302-306.
  • Shorter KA, Polk JD, Rosengren KS, Hsiao-Wecksler ET 2008. A new approach to detecting asymmetries in gait. Clinical Biomechanics 23:459-467.
  • Rosengren KS, Deconinck FJA, Di Berardino LA, Polk JD, Spencer-Smith J, Lenoir M, and De Clercq, D 2009. Differences in Gait Complexity and Variability Bewteen Children With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder. Gait & Posture 29: 225-229.
  • Polk JD, Williams SA and Peterson J. (in press) Primate joint posture inferred from subchondral bone density: effects of body mass. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.
  • Patel BA & Polk JD. (in press)Distal forelimb kinematics in patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) and olive baboons (Papio anubis) during walking and galloping. Int. J. Primatol.

Grants

National Science Foundation: BCS 0639630: Comparative analyses of femoral subchondral bone density in Primates; National Science Foundation: CMMI 0727083 Quantitative Characterization of Complex Motion Patterns Using Shape-based and Multivariate Techniques ; National Science Foundation: BCS 9803079 The Influence of Body Size and Body Proportions on Primate Quadrupedal Locomotion ; Leakey Foundation: The Influence of Body Size and Body Proportions on Primate Quadrupedal Locomotion