Amelia Villaseñor is an American paleoecologist best known for her study of Quaternary palaeoenvironments and the impacts of hominins on them.
Early life and education Villaseñor grew up in South Phoenix, Arizona. She is Mexican-American. She attended graduate school at George Washington University, earning both a Master's degree and PhD in Human Paleobiology. In spring 2015, was given a Leakey Foundation grant for her dissertation project "The biogeography and behavioral ecology of hominins in Pliocene Eastern Africa: A macroecological perspective".
Career Villaseñor is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. She has published a number of papers examining the ecology of early hominins.
In 2020, Villaseñor joined a project exploring the Natodomeri site in northwest Kenya. In 2025, Villaseñor participated in an archaeological dig in the Turkana Basin in Kenya that found 2.75 million-year-old stone tools.
Awards and recognitions
2025 OMNI Keeling/Hansen Climate Science Award, University of Arkansas
Selected publications
References