Research Topics

evolutionary biology and entomological research

Dino is internationally respected for his evolutionary biology and entomological research, biodiversity conservation work, and natural history writing, and he is widely known as one of Kenya’s leading biological scientists. Dino graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from Indiana University in 1999 and worked on his M.Sc. in Botany at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2004. He earned his Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University in 2011 before joining TBI as a postdoctoral fellow at Stony Brook University. Dino has taught in the TBI Origins field school every semester it has been offered since Spring 2011.
On completion of his postdoc, Dino took on the position of Resident Academic Director of the TBI Origins Field School, a position that he held for three years before accepting the position of Executive Director of the Mpala Research Center in Laikipia, Kenya, which is overseen by Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kenyan Wildlife Service, and the National Museums of Kenya. During his seven years as Director, Dino dramatically improved operations and finances at Mpala and greatly expanded the number of institutions conducting research there. 
Dino’s research in the Turkana Basin has included the description of new species of bees, including some of the most ancient lineages of bees known and the discovery of genera previously not recorded from Africa. Dino is also a Co-PI of the Turkana Genome Project, which brings together dozens of international scientists to look at the complex interactions among human genes, the environment and adaptation in a world that is increasingly mismatched between our biology and technology/culture. Dino is actively building links and collaborations globally to expand the scientific frontiers of research at TBI. This includes building on the excellent fundamental research around human origins and evolution, to other disciplines that intersect with the fields of evolution and ecology, climate change and the future of sustainable human existence and development.