Jennifer Raff Explained

Jennifer Raff
Birth Date:29 August 1979
Birth Place:Carbondale, Illinois, U.S.
Education:Indiana University (BA)
Doctoral Advisor:Frederika Kaestle
Thesis Title:An ancient DNA perspective on the prehistory of the Lower Illinois Valley
Thesis Year:2008
Thesis Url:https://www.academia.edu/3583726/An_ancient_DNA_perspective_on_the_prehistory_of_the_Lower_Illinois_Valley

Jennifer Anne Raff (born 1979, née Kedzie) is an American geneticist and an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas. She specializes in anthropological genetics relating to the initial peopling of the Americas and subsequent prehistory of Indigenous populations throughout North America. She is the President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics. Alongside her research, Raff is a science communicator who writes and gives public talks about topics in science literacy.

Early life and education

Raff was born in Carbondale, Illinois. She moved from Missouri to Indiana when she started high school.[1] While she was a child, her mother started a doctoral degree in neuroscience, which inspired Raff to follow a career in scientific research. During her last year of high school, Raff asked a professor in a nearby university if she could join his laboratory and started to work on molecular biology. She received a B.A. in biology and anthropology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2001,[2] after which she worked for a year in a yeast molecular genetics lab. She received a master's degree in anthropology in 2008, and a doctoral degree in genetics and biological anthropology in 2008, also from Indiana University.[3]

Research and career

As a postdoctoral scholar, Raff worked with Dennis O’Rourke at the University of Utah,[4] with M. Geoffrey Hayes at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago Illinois, and with Deborah Bolnick at the University of Texas at Austin.[5]

In 2015, Raaff was appointed Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of Kansas where she conducts population genetics research on ancient and contemporary North American populations from the North American Arctic, the Midwest, and Texas. Her research involves the analysis of genomes in ancient and contemporary DNA, which she uses to understand the histories of human populations.[6] In particular, Raff has focused on the development of new approaches to extract ancient DNA.

In 2019, Raff was awarded a $450,000, three-year National Science Foundation Search Grant to investigate the genetic history of the Aleut people.[7] [8] The project will see Raff investigating genomic information from ancient people for the Aleutian Islands. As of that same year, Raff was recognized as a Docking Faculty Scholar.[9]

Raff teaches courses on Fundamentals of Physical Anthropology, on Human Evolution, and on Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature. She is a faculty member with the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics, a program designed to increase representation of Indigenous peoples in the field of genetics. In 2018, Raff was made Vice President of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics and promoted to President in 2019.[10]

Her first book, Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, was published in February 2022. The book is a genetic history of humans in North and South America and looks to teach people about the fundamental science of genetics.[11] Raff is represented by agents Janklow & Nesbit and publishers Twelve Books.

Public engagement

Raff has written for public audiences on her blog "Violent Metaphors",[12] in the Huffington Post,[13] for Forbes[14] and for The Guardian.[15] She has written about the importance of vaccination – in particular, her article "Dear parents, you are being lied to" has been translated into several languages,[16] [17] [18] including German,[19] Italian,[20] Norwegian,[21] Vietnamese,[22] Croatian.[23] She has spoken about the dangers of scientific racism and, in particular, Nicholas Wade's book A Troublesome Inheritance.[24] [25] [26] Raff was included in Angela Saini's Superior: The Return of Race Science.[27]

Raff provided testimony to the Texas Board of Education concerning the teaching of evolution in schools.[28] She also provided a commentary about the information that could be learned from Elizabeth Warren's DNA test.[29]

Raff has worked to improve public understanding of the scientific process.[30] She has appeared on several podcasts, including Science for the People,[31] NPR Science Friday,[32] Inside Science[33] and on the BBC World Service.[34] She was part of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki episode on the Ice bridge.[35] She frequently gives public talks on science literacy issues, and was an invited speaker at Skepticon.[36]

Selected publications

Personal life

Raff has trained in various martial arts alongside her sister, retired mixed martial artist Julie Kedzie. She holds a third dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do.[37] She has also trained in MMA.[38] [39] She reached the semifinals in the Chicago Golden Gloves Women's 156 pound Senior Novice division in 2012, but lost the title bout to Allie Ayers.[40] [41]

Raff is married to Kenneth Colin McRoberts, and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. They have one son.[42]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jennifer Raff. STEM Women on Fire. en. 2019-12-03.
  2. Web site: Jennifer A. Raff. 2015-08-18. Department of Anthropology. en. 2019-12-01.
  3. PhD. An Ancient DNA Perspective on the Prehistory of the Lower Illinois Valley. Jennifer. Raff. 2008.
  4. Guglielmi. Giorgia. 2019-04-16. Facing up to injustice in genome science. Nature. en. 568. 7752. 290–293. 10.1038/d41586-019-01166-x. 30992587. 2019Natur.568..290G. free.
  5. Web site: Genetic data does not support ancient trans-Atlantic migration, professor says. phys.org. en-us. 2019-12-03.
  6. Web site: Jennifer Raff. The Evolution Institute. en-US. 2019-12-03.
  7. Web site: NSF Award Search: Award#1849338 - The Genetic History of the Aleut People. www.nsf.gov. 2019-12-01.
  8. Web site: New research will illuminate history of Aleutian Island peoples by analyzing their genomes. EurekAlert!. en. 2019-12-01.
  9. The Peopling of the Americas at the End of the Pleistocene. The Society for American Archaeology. The SAA Archaeological Record . 19 . 3. May 2019. 12. June 4, 2022.
  10. Web site: Officers. en-US. 2019-12-02.
  11. Web site: 'Origin' explores the controversial science of the first Americans. Bruce Bower. ScienceNews. February 4, 2022. June 4, 2022.
  12. Web site: Violent metaphors. Violent metaphors. en. 2019-12-01.
  13. Web site: Jennifer Raff HuffPost. www.huffpost.com. 2019-12-01.
  14. Web site: Jennifer Raff. Forbes. en. 2019-12-01.
  15. Web site: Jennifer Raff The Guardian. the Guardian. en. 2019-12-01.
  16. Web site: Dear parents, you are being lied to.. Raff. Jennifer. 2014-03-26. Violent metaphors. en. 2019-12-01.
  17. Web site: Dear Parents, You Are Being Lied To. 2014-04-08. HuffPost. 2019-12-01.
  18. Web site: Dear parents: you are being lied to about vaccines. Raff. Jennifer. 2014-04-11. Essential Baby. en-au. 2019-12-01.
  19. Web site: Liebe Eltern, Sie werden angelogen. 2014-06-04. stern.de. de. 2019-12-01.
  20. Web site: Cari genitori, vi stanno mentendo. Pazienti.it. Pazienti.it. Pazienti.it. www.pazienti.it. it. 2019-12-01.
  21. Web site: Kjære foreldre. Dere blir løyet til. Raff. Jennifer. Aftenposten. 4 June 2014 . nb-NO. 2019-12-01.
  22. Web site: Các bố mẹ ạ, có lẽ chúng ta đã hoàn toàn hiểu sai về vắc-xin và tiêm phòng cho con!. VCCorp.vn. 2016-05-03. aFamily. vi. 2019-12-01.
  23. Web site: Dragi roditelji, lažu vas!. Krpan. Hrvoje. 2014-04-10. Znanost Blog. hr. 2019-12-01.
  24. Web site: Nicholas Wade and Race: Building a Scientific Façade. Jennifer Raff, Assistant Professor of Physical Anthropology, University of Kansas, joint PhD in genetics and anthropology. 2014-05-27. HuffPost. en. 2019-12-01.
  25. Web site: Social Construct of Race Imposes Biology. Mirsky. Steve. Scientific American. en. 2019-12-01.
  26. Web site: Problematical theories. UCL. 2019-02-13. UCL Division of Biosciences. en. 2019-12-03.
  27. Book: Saini, Angela. Superior: The Return of Race Science. 2019. Beacon Press. 978-0-8070-7691-0. 131–132. en.
  28. Web site: Report of the State Board of Education Committee of the Full Board Public Hearing September 17, 2013!.
  29. Web site: What Do Elizabeth Warren's DNA Test Results Actually Mean?. Raff. Jennifer. Forbes. en. 2019-12-01.
  30. Web site: How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists. May 9th. communication. 2016Academic. 2016-05-09. Impact of Social Sciences. en-US. 2019-12-03. writing. Academic. Comments. Resources62.
  31. Web site:
    1. 287 - Troublesome Inheritance: Science for the People
    . www.scienceforthepeople.ca. 2019-12-01.
  32. Web site: How Do We Study Ancient Americans?. Science Friday. en-US. 2019-12-02.
  33. Web site: BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Antarctic, Kew, Paleogenomics, Sea birds. BBC. en-GB. 2019-12-02.
  34. Web site: BBC World Service: BBC Newsday - Where did Native Americans come from?.
  35. Web site: CBC, The Solutrean Hypothesis, and Jennifer Raff - Episode 92 — Pseudo-Archaeology.
    1. archpodnet
    . 5 February 2018 . en-US. 2019-12-02.
  36. Web site: The Misuse of Genetics in Pseudoscience. YouTube.
  37. Web site: Monroe County Martial Arts. Facebook.
  38. Web site: Katalina Malungahu . Awakening . awakeningfighters.com . 10 December 2019.
  39. Web site: Jennifer Raff vs. Katalina Muti Malungahu . Non Stop WMMA . 14 January 2011 . nonstopwmma blogs . 10 December 2019.
  40. Web site: Chicago Tribune: Action-filled night in Chicago Golden Gloves at Gordon Tech .
  41. Web site: McRoberts . Colin . Colin McRoberts Facebook page . Facebook . 10 December 2019.
  42. Web site: When life returns 'to normal,' these Lawrencians know just what they want to do first. Lauren Fox. LJWorld.com. Lawrence Journal World. May 17, 2020. June 4, 2022.

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