Introducing a new Committee Member: Rachel Hurwitz

I am a second year DPhil student in Evolutionary Anthropology, which is the study of where humans originated, how our bodies function, and why we behave the way we do. Broadly, I am interested how our bones can provide information about modern human development, extant primate adaptations, and how they can help reconstruct the lives of our ancestors. My research focuses on whether and how lateralized behaviours impact osseous hand morphology in the primate order, particularly the great apes. If you ever want to chat about bones, handedness, or primates, I would love to talk with you!

Originally from the midwestern U.S., I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Evolutionary Anthropology. As an undergraduate, I helped develop resources for BlueLink, an educational, multimedia-based, online anatomical archive, and worked in a lab examining the effects of various diets and exercise-regimes in mice. I then worked at Michigan Medicine, assisting with large-scale clinical trials and numerous retrospective observational studies with the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group. I completed an MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford in 2023, which inspired me to begin a DPhil. When I am not working on my research, I can often be found fawning over my two rescue cats, drinking far too much coffee, or singing showtunes (badly).

During my time at St John’s, I have become deeply involved in the Middle Common Room by serving on committee as secretary, vice president, and returning officer. I am thrilled to become engaged in the SJC community in another way through the WLP. After attending many of the WLP sessions last year, I am excited to continue learning from and making connections with SJC alumni through the Women’s Network. In particular, I hope to facilitate a broad range of discussions which appeal to graduate students with varied background and in a diverse range of fields.

As someone who grew up with two younger brothers, I consider myself lucky that my parents never said there were things they could do which I couldn’t because of my sex. This meant that when I started experiencing sexism in STEM spaces during university, I felt like I had been thrown back in time to when my grandmother was finishing high school. My grandmother, who is my favourite person and whose birthday is fittingly on International Women’s Day, was told that if she were a man, she would have the grades and test results of a budding engineer. However, as a woman from a low-income background and small town, she was instead sent to a teaching school. Whilst my grandmother was never able to pursue engineering, she went on to graduate university while raising four children. My grandmother instilled the importance of hard work, education, and pushing boundaries, and I like to think I get a love of travel from her and a bit of tenacity from her as well. I aim to dedicate many of my own academic achievements to my grandmother, and the countless other women who were not afforded the opportunity to reach their potential. It is for these reasons that I think women-led spaces like the WLP and broader Women’s Network are so incredibly important. Particularly at a time when DEI initiatives are being dismantled in my home country, I think it is incredibly important to recognize, celebrate, and uplift the diverse voices of those who have been historically marginalized, and hopes to facilitate that in the WLP.