John Mitani is the James N. Spuhler Collegiate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan.  He has conducted fieldwork on the behavior of all five species of apes: gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees.  With David Watts, he co-directs the Ngogo chimpanzee project in the Kibale National Park, Uganda.  His current research involves studies of male chimpanzee social behavior and communication.  He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Davis, and conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University.

Dr. William Hopkins is an associate professor of psychology at Agnes Scott College and a research scientist at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. His research focuses on the evolution of hemispheric specialization in relation to higher order cognition, including
language. Hopkins received his bachelor’s in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin and his master’s (1986) and Ph.D. from Georgia State University (1990).

Dr. Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi received her Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 1999. She is currently a senior lecturer at the School of Human Cultures at the University of Shiga Prefecture in Japan. Her research interests include the evolutionary foundation and development of imitation and facial recognition.  Recent papers include “Factors influencing imitation of manipulatory actions in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)” in the Journal of Comparative Psychology and “Development of facial information processing in nonhuman primates,” a chapter published in “Cognitive Development in Chimpanzees” (Tokyo Springer-Verlag, 2006).

Christophe Boesch is director of the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and Founder and President of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation. Since 2003, he has served on the Executive Committee of the IUCN/SSC Section of the Great Apes (SGA). He’s currently conducting a long-term study of the chimpanzees and gorillas in Gabon’s Loango National Park, but he is best known for his work with wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in the Ivory Coast, where he studies chimpanzee ecology, social organization, tool-use, hunting, cooperation, food-sharing, inter-community relationships and cognitive capacities.

Roman Wittig is a postdoctoral scientist at University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Biology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1996, he received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Bielefeld in the Department of Animal Behaviour. In 2004, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig, Germany in the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. His doctoral research focused on conflict management in wild chimpanzees living in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

Masaki Tomonaga is an associate professor in the Language and Intelligence Section of the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University in Inuyama, Japan. He has studied at Kyoto University since 1991 and received his Ph.D. in 1994. His research interests include the visual search performance and development of social cognition in primates.

Lisa Parr received her Ph.D. in psychology from Emory University in 2000 with a dissertation entitled “Understanding emotion in chimpanzees.” Since then, she has established a strong comparative research lab at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center examining social cognition in monkeys and apes, and she has also worked with human infants and children with autism. Her research focuses broadly on how nonhuman primates negotiate their social environment, including how monkeys and apes recognize the faces of conspecifics and how they produce and perceptually categorization facial expressions. She has received the Frank A. Beach Comparative Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association and has received research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Alliance for Autism Research.

Andrew Whiten is a professor of evolutionary and developmental psychology and Wardlaw Professor of Psychology at the University of St Andrews. He is an elected fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His research interests center on social cognition in human and non-human primates, with a particular focus in recent times on social learning, traditions and culture. Among over 60 publications in the present century are “The second inheritance system of chimpanzees and humans” (Nature, 2005), “Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees” (Nature, 2005), “Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children” (PNAS, 2006) and “Towards a unified science of culture” (BBS, 2006).

Dr. Michael Tomasello received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Georgia in 1980.  He then taught at Emory University and worked at Yerkes Primate Center from 1980 to 1998.  Since then, he has served as co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. His research interests focus on processes of social cognition, social learning and communication/language in human children and great apes. His books include “Primate Cognition” (Oxford University Press, 1997), “The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition” (Harvard University Press, 1999) and “Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition” (Harvard University Press, 2003).

Katie Slocombe’s primary research interest is vocal communication in chimpanzees. She has recently focused on the potential for chimpanzee vocal signals to function as referential signals. Slocombe is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of St Andrews, where she continues to investigate the referential potential of chimpanzee vocalizations as well as the intentions and motivations of callers. She works with the wild chimpanzees of Budongo Forest, Uganda and captive chimpanzees at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Centre, Leipzig and Edinburgh Zoo, United Kingdom.

Duane M. Rumbaugh received his M. A. from Kent State University in 1951 and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1955.  He taught at San Diego State and conducted primate learning research with the San Diego Zoo from 1955-1969.  From 1969-2000 he served as professor of psychology and biology with Georgia State University, Atlanta.  In 1971 he initiated the LANA chimpanzee language project, noted for the successful development of the computer-monitored keyboard for language research with apes and for its value to language-challenged humans as well.  In 2004 he joined the Great Ape Trust of Iowa where he serves as Lead Scientist Emeritus.  He has published well over 200 scientific articles and has two recent books -- The Intelligence of Apes and Other Rational Beings, with co-author David Washburn, Yale University Press, 2003, and Animal Bodies, Human Minds -- Ape, dolphin, and parrot language skills, with senior author William A. Hillix, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, 2005.

Crickette Sanz is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Primatology Department of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. She is also co-director of the Goualougo Triangle Chimpanzee Research Project in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. Her research focuses on primate behavioral ecology, chimpanzee material culture, and conservation.

Michio Nakamura has worked on wild chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania since 1994. His main research interest is the collective aspect of sociality and its evolution. Currently, he focuses on grooming interactions among chimpanzees. He is also interested in the cultural aspects of social behaviors in chimpanzees and has visited several other long-term chimpanzee study sites such as Budongo (Uganda), Kibale (Uganda) and Bossou (Guinea) for comparison.

Dr. William McGrew is a lecturer at the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in the Department of Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.  Since 1972, McGrew has worked with wild chimpanzees across Africa, from Uganda to Senegal. His primary research interests include elementary technology, culture and the laterality of hand function, all in terms of modeling human origins. He has published several notable books, including “Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution” and “The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology,” both published by Cambridge University Press.

Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa is well known for his studies of chimpanzee intelligence both in the laboratory and in the wild. The laboratory work, known as the "Ai-project," has focused on the language-like skills and concept of numbers established in a female chimpanzee named Ai. The project started in 1978 and is one of the longest laboratory studies of chimpanzee intelligence. Matsuzawa has also been studying the tool use in wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa since 1986 and is involved in efforts to conserve wild chimpanzees though the "Green Corridor Project," a successful reforestation program. He has received the Prince Chichibu Memorial Science Award in 1991, Jane Goodall Award in 2001, and The Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2004.

As the director of Lincoln Park Zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Ph.D., coordinates the zoo’s support of and participation in wild animal conservation initiatives. Lonsdorf studies tool-use in chimpanzees in the wild and at the Regenstein Center for African Apes, while also conducting field research on ecosystem health issues in the Gombe chimpanzees. She is the in-situ adviser to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan and a member of the AZA’s Field Conservation Committee. She serves on the IUCN Primate Specialist Group’s Section on Great Apes and is a member of the Committee of Evolutionary Biology faculty of the University of Chicago.

Tatyana Humle is a NRSA Postdoctoral Research Fellow and associate lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a member of the IUCN section for the conservation of the Great Apes. The main focus of her research has been to investigate the respective contributions of the environment and social and individual learning on the acquisition of foraging skills among immature primates from a cultural and developmental perspective. Since 1995, she has been studying wild chimpanzees at Bossou and Nimba in Guinea, West Africa and has also been involved in designing and advising ongoing conservation and developmental projects in that region.

Victoria Horner is a postsdoctoral researcher at the Living Links Center at Emory University, working with Dr. Frans de Waal. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of St. Andrews in 2003 with Dr. Andrew Whiten. Her research focuses include chimpanzee social learning and culture, simulation and investigation of chimpanzee cultural behavior in captivity, and chimpanzee tool-use and causal knowledge.

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Satoshi Hirata is the head researcher at the Great Ape Research Institute (GARI) in Japan. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute, working with Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa. He has published on a number of topics, ranging from natural chimpanzee behavior at Bossou, Guinea to mother-infant communication in captive chimpanzees. Among his current research focuses is an investigation of the socioecological influences of tool-use behavior.

Misato Hayashi graduated from the Faculty of Education at Kyoto University and received a Master of Science at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute.  She is currently a graduate student in the Section of Language and Intelligence at the Primate Research Institute and will be the assistant professor of the Institute’s Section of Comparative Study of Cognitive Development.

Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960 under the mentorship of anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at what was then called the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The Institute is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and its Roots & Shoots education program has 8,000 groups in 96 countries

Ian Gilby received his Ph.D. from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota in 2004, where he developed an interest in animal cooperation, focusing on cooperation among wild chimpanzees. For his dissertation, he combined fieldwork with analysis of long-term data to investigate social and ecological influences on hunting and meat sharing among the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department at Harvard University, where he uses long-term data to investigate male chimpanzee social relationships, cooperative coalitions and hunting patterns at Kanyawara, Kibale National Park, Uganda.

Dr. Frans B.M. de Waal is the C.H. Candler Professor in the Psychology Department of Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Center. His first book “Chimpanzee Politics” (1982) compared the Machiavellian power struggles among chimpanzees with those among human politicians. Ever since, de Waal has drawn parallels between primate and human behavior, from peacemaking and morality to culture. This is reflected in seven popular books, the latest one being “Our Inner Ape” (Riverhead 2005). He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (United States) and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences.