Maddux Lab

Human Evolutionary Anatomy

The Maddux Lab is housed in the Center for Anatomical Sciences, a division of the Department of Physiology and Anatomy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Research in the Maddux Lab focuses on later phases of human evolution with an emphasis on the distinctive craniofacial morphologies of Neandertals and modern humans.  

Current projects focus extensively on linking evolutionary changes in upper respiratory tract anatomy to physiological demands for respiratory air-conditioning (heat and moisture transfer) in different climates.  In particular, the laboratory specializes in 3D modeling and geometric morphometric analysis of upper respiratory tract anatomy using high-resolution medical imaging modalities (e.g., CT, μCT, MRI).  

Research in the Maddux lab is supported by the National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Texas Center for Health Disparities, and the American Association for Anatomy.    

Scott D. Maddux, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Center for Anatomical Sciences
University of North Texas Health Science Center
Ft. Worth, TX 76107

News

August 9, 2024


Congratulations to PhD candidate Lyndee Ward for receiving a Research Grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS Biological Anthropology #2419511) in support of her Dissertation project:

 "Doctoral Dissertation Research: Nasal morphological responses to thermal and exertional conditions"  

July 11, 2024


Maddux Lab SOAR intern, Michelle Hoskins (UT - Arlington), presented her research at the 2024 UNTHSC Summer Research Internship Program conference. 


3D Scanning and Precision Anthropometry of Human Body Surface Area: 

Implications for Thermoregulatory Research.  

Hoskins, M., Goodstein, M., Ward, L.A., Cho, E.O., Ocobock, C., Cowgill, L., Maddux, S.D.



June 10, 2024


Congratulations to PhD candidate Lyndee Ward for receiving a Research Grant from the Leakey Foundation in support of her Dissertation project:

 "Climate and human nasal evolution: Experimentally investigating skeletal and soft-tissue influences on nasal airflow dynamics in living humans"  

April 2, 2024


Congratulations to MS students Chloe  Boettger for successfully defending of her MS practicum "Assessment of digit skin temperatures via infrared thermography under different climatic conditions"



March 23, 2024


Congratulations to PhD students Lyndee Ward and Baonhu Tran for winning student presentation awards at the 93nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) in Los Angeles, CA. 


March 20-23, 2024


Maddux Lab presentations at the 93nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) in Los Angeles, CA. 



January 10, 2024


Congratulations to PhD candidate Lyndee Ward for receiving an NIH training fellowship through the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium (AIM-AHEAD) & All of Us Research Program.

November 4, 2023


Congratulations to PhD candidate Lyndee Ward and MS student Caroline Counts for winning student presentation awards at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Texas Association of Biological Anthropologists (TABA).

November 4, 2023


Maddux Lab presentations at TABA 2023


August 9, 2023

New Grant

July 15, 2023


Elizabeth Cho, PhD hired as an Assistant Professor at UNTHSC

Congratulations to Maddux Lab postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Elizabeth Cho, who has accepted a tenure-track faculty position in the Center for Anatomical Sciences at UNTHSC.  

Dr. Cho's new faculty webpage can be viewed here: https://www.unthsc.edu/center-for-anatomical-sciences/elizabeth-cho/


July 13, 2023


Maddux Lab SOAR interns, Ana Reif (Columbia Univ.) and Miranda Goodstein (Tufts Univ.), present their research at the 2023 UNTHSC Summer Research Internship Program conference


Reif, A., Goodstein, M., Ward, L.A., Cho, E.O., Ocobock, C., Cowgill, L., Maddux, S.D.,



June 1, 2023


The Maddux Lab welcomes new MS student, Chloe Boettger, to the lab!  

Chloe is a second-year research track Master's of Medical Sciences student at UNTHSC.  Her research project focuses on the use of thermal imaging to assess differences between skin and core temperatures during climatic exposures in the environmental chamber.  


May 24, 2023


Congratulations to Dr. Alexa Kelly on the conferral of her PhD at UNTHSC's 2023 commencement ceremony!  


April 21, 2023


Congratulations to Alexa Kelly on being awarded the 2023 School of Biomedical Sciences Dean's Award for Scholarly Excellence! 

April 19-22, 2023


Maddux Lab presentations at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) in Reno, NV. 


April 10, 2023


Congratulations to former PhD student, Dr. Alexa Kelly, on her first day as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy at Campbell University in North Carolina!  


Faculty Profile:  Alexa Kelly  


April 6, 2023


Congratulations to Dr. Alexa Kelly on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation "The interactive influence of climate and energetics on human nasal morphology." 

January 25, 2023


New Publication:


Kelly, A. P., Ocobock, C., Butaric, L. N., & Maddux, S. D. (2023). Metabolic demands and sexual dimorphism in human nasal morphology: A test of the respiratory‐energetics hypothesis. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 180(3), 453-471. 

November 12, 2022


Maddux Lab presentations at the 16th Annual meeting of the Texas Association of Biological Anthropologists (TABA) in Austin, TX

October 14, 2022

New Publication:

Kim, S., Ward, L. A., Butaric, L. N., & Maddux, S. D. (2022). Human maxillary sinus size, shape, and surface area: Implications for structural and functional hypotheses. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 179(4), 640-654. 

August 15, 2022

The Maddux Lab welcomes new PhD student, Baohu Tran, to the lab!  

Baonhu received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Texas at Arlington in May 2022.  A former SOAR intern at UNTHSC, Baonhu's research interests center around climatic adaptation in respiratory anatomy during human evolution.  


Baonhu is a 2022 Fellow of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).  

June 28, 2022


Tenure! 


Scott was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.  Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate at the UNTHSC promotion and tenure event!



June 13, 2022


Congratulations to Alexa Kelly on being awarded the Sandy C. Marks Jr. Student Poster Presentation Award at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the AACA!


June 13, 2022


Maddux Lab presentations at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) in Fort Worth, TX

May 24, 2022


Congratulations to Dr. Suhhyun 'Sarah' Kim on the conferral of both her DO and PhD degrees at UNTHSC's 2022 commencement ceremony!  


April 25, 2022


New Grant:


Climatic adaptation and the human nose: An experimental investigation in living humans.  National Science Foundation. SBE – Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, #2203808. E.O. Cho, Principal Investigator; S.D. Maddux, Lead Sponsor; C. Ocobock, B. Dennis, Co-Sponsors. $138,000. 


NSF News Release:  SBE supports early-career scientists with 25 new postdoctoral fellowship awards


March 29, 2022


Congratulations to Dr. Suhhyun 'Sarah' Kim  on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation: "Three-dimensional variation in maxillary sinus anatomy: Implications for health disparities in Sinonasal disease." 



March 23-26, 2022


Maddux Lab presentations at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) in Denver, CO

March 18, 2022


Congratulations to DO/PhD student, Sarah Kim, for matching into the Anatomical and Clinical Pathology Residency program at the University of Washington in Seattle (her first choice).