Athena Aktipis

Education

2008–2011: University of Arizona, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Post-doctoral Fellow
: University of Pennsylvania, MS in Psychology
2003–2008: University of Pennsylvania, PhD in Psychology
1998–2002: Reed College, BA in Psychology, Phi Beta Kappa

Peer Reviewed Publications

✝Beltrán, D. G., ✝Ayers, J. D., Kwon, J. Y., Todd, P. M., **Aktipis, A. (2026). Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261449280 https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261449280
*Aktipis, A., Marambio, C., Lykke, N. (2026). Thinking about Cancer Cells, Their Evolution and Ecologies: An Interview Conversation., 221-234. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350504646.ch-007 https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350504646.ch-007
✝Ayers, J. D., ✝Beltrán, D. G., Mercado, D. L., **Aktipis, A. (2026). Friendship making orientation as indexed by preferences for wide networks and intimacy with many friends: structure and validity of a new construct. Evolution and Human Behavior, 47(4), 106878-106878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106878 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106878
✝Beltran, D.G., ✝Ayers, J.D., Cronk, L., Balliet, D.P., Koster, J., ** Aktipis, A. (2026). Sources of fitness interdependence associated with shared fate and cooperation in a small-scale horticultural society. Evolution and Human Behavior 47 (1), 106802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106802 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106802
Aktipis, A. (2026). Beyond inclusive fitness: Why dual inheritance still matters in the age of memes. Evolution and Human Behavior, 106756. Commentary on The Ecological Approach to Culture by Nicolas Baumard and Jean-Baptiste Andre. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106756 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106756
✝Alcaraz, G. M., ✝Narayanan, S., Alcock, J., ✝Ayers, J. D., Baciu, C., Berman, H. L., Dunn, R. R., ✝Fortunato, A., ✝May, A., ✝Maley, C. C., Siegel, J., ✝Yavari, B., **Aktipis, A. (2025). Does Fermentation Enhance Beverage Safety? Kombucha’s Resistance to Microbial Invasion Suggests a Protective Role. bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory). https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.23.696228 https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.23.696228
Chua, K. J., Quilang, R. C., Sallinger, K., Aktipis, A., Arck, P., Bianchi, D. W., ✝Chang, H., Cleaves, H. J., Eikmans, M., Fjeldstad, H. E., Haig, D., Harrington, W. E., Horsnell, W. G. C., Jacobsen, D. P., Kamper‐Jørgensen, M., Kanaan, S. B., Khosrotehrani, K., Lambert, N. C., ✝Nelson, J. L., Olsen, M. B., Pan, T., Prins, J. R., Schildberg, F. A., Staff, A. C., Ståhlberg, A., Stelzer, I. A., Urbschat, C., Way, S. S., Wilson, M. A., Ye, Y., Kroneis, T., ✝Boddy, A. M. (2025). Identifying Key Questions and Challenges in Microchimerism Biology. Advanced Science, 12(48), e14969-e14969. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202514969 https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202514969
Laplane, L., Lamoureux, A., Richker, H. I., ✝Marquez Alcaraz, G., ✝Fortunato, A., ✝Shaffer, Z., Aktipis, A., Mischel, P., Plutynski, A., , Townsend, J. & Maley, C. C. (2025). Applying multilevel selection to understand cancer evolution and progression. PLoS Biology, 23(7), e3003290. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003290 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003290
**Maley, C., Boddy, A., Nedelcu, A., & Aktipis, A. (2025). Multicellular Cooperation and the Hallmarks of Cancer: A New Foundation. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. (IF = 3). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoaf026 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoaf026
✤ Van Horn, A., Mercado, D. L., ✝ Parmeggianni, C., Aktipis, A. & Cronk, L. (2025). Religion facilitates cooperation in healthcare sharing ministries. Religion, Brain and Behavior. 1–17. (IF = 3.8). https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2489474 https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599x.2025.2489474
Lozo, K., Aktipis., A. & Alcock, J. (2025). Neuroimmune pain and its manipulation by pathogens. Evolutionary Applications. 18: e70098. (IF = 5.14) https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70098 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70098
Søgaard Jørgensen, P., Nguyen Thanh, L., Pehlivanoglu, E., Klein, F., Wernli, D., Jasovsky, D., Aktipis, A., Dunn, R., Gröhn, Y., Lhermie, G., Scott, M., & Klein, E. (2025). Association between national action and trends in antibiotic resistance: an analysis of 73 countries from 2000 to 2023. PLOS Global Public Health. (IF = 2.4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004127 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004127
Fortunato, A., Taylor, J., Scirone, J., Seyedi, S., Aktipis, A., & Maley, C. C. (2025). Tethya wilhelma (Porifera) Is Highly Resistant to Radiation Exposure and Possibly Cancer. Biology, 14(2), 171. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14020171 https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14020171
✝Compton, Z. T., Harris, V., Mellon, W., Rupp, S., Mallo, D., ✤Kapsetaki, S. E., Wilmot, M., Kennington, R., Noble, K., Baciu, C., Ramirez, L., Peraza, A., Martins, B., Sudhakar, S., Aksoy, S., Furukawa, G., Vincze, O., Giraudeau, M., Duke, E. G., Spiro, S., .Flach, E., Davidson,H., Zehnder,A., Graham, T. A., Troan, B., Harrison, T. M., Tollis M., Schiffman, J. D., Aktipis, A., Abegglen, L. M., Maley, C. C., ✤Boddy,A. M., (2025). Cancer Prevalence Across Vertebrates. Cancer Discovery, 15(1), 227-244. (IF = 30.6). https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-24-0573 https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-24-0573
✝Isch, C., Brown, R., Todd, P. M., Aktipis, A., & Pepper, G. (2025). Objective risk exposure, perceived uncontrollable mortality risk, and health behaviors. Journal of Public Health, 33(1), 11-21. (IF = 3.6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-023-01994-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-023-01994-2
✝ Guevara Beltran, D., ✝ Ayers, J. D., ✝ Claessens, S., Alcock, J., Baciu, C., Cronk, L., Hudson, N. M., Hurmuz-Sklias, H., Miller, G., Tidball, K., ✤ Horn, A. V., Winfrey, P., Zarka, E., Todd, P. M. & **Aktipis, A. (2024). Shared fate was associated with sustained cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One, 19(9), e0307829. (IF = 2.9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307829 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307829
✝ Ayers, J. D., Krems, J. A., & **Aktipis, A. (2024). How do you build the perfect friend? Evidence from two forced-choice decision-making experiments. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 02654075241243341. (IF = 3.2). https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075241243341 https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075241243341
✝ Guevara Beltran, D., Shiota, M. N., & **Aktipis, A. (2024). A socio-functional perspective on emotion and cooperation. In The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions edited by Laith Al-Shawaf and Todd K. Shackelford https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.34 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.34
Fedurek, P., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Danel, D., Lacroix, L., Lehmann, J., Mabulla, I., Makambi, J. E., & Berbesque, J. C. (2024). Prosocial reputation and stress among contemporary hunter-gatherers: The Hadza case. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1-11. (IF = 3.8). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72238-w https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72238-w
Fedurek, P., Danel, D., Aktipis, A., Berbesque, J. C., Cronk, L., Makambi, E. J., ... & Koziel, S. (2024). Height and integration in proximity networks among Tanzanian Hadza men. American Journal of Human Biology, e24129. (IF = 2.1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24129 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24129
Giraudeau, M., Vincze, O., Dupont, S. M., Sepp, T., Baines, C., Lemaitre, F., Lemberger, K., Gentès, S., Boddy, A., Dujon, A. M., Bramwell, G., Harris, V., Ujvari, B., Alix-Panabières, C., Lair, S., Sayag, D., Conde, D. A., Colchero, F., Harrison, T. M., Pavard, S., Padilla-Morales, B., Chevallier, D., Hamede, R., Roche, B., Malkocs, T., Aktipis, A., Maley, C., DeGregori, J., Le Loc’h, G. & Thomas, F. (2024). Approaches and methods to study wildlife cancer. Journal of Animal Ecology, 93(10), 1410-1428. (IF = 3.4). https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14144 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14144
✤ Kapsetaki, S. E., Compton, Z. T., Dolan, J., Harris, V. Κ., Mellon, W., Rupp, S. M., Duke, E. G., Harrison, T. M., Aksoy, S., Giraudeau, M., Vincze, O., McGraw, K. J., Aktipis, A., Tollis, M., Boddy, A. Μ., & Maley, C. C. (2024). Life history traits and cancer prevalence in birds. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 12(1), 105-116. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae011 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae011
✝Beltran G. D., ✝Ayers J. D., ✝Munoz A., Cronk L., & ** Aktipis A., (2023). What is reciprocity? A review and expert-based classification of cooperative transfers, Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 44, Issue 4, 2023, Pages 384-393, ISSN 1090-5138. (IF = 3.0).
✝ Ayers J. D., ✤Sznycer, D., Sullivan D., ✝Beltrán D. G., van den Akker O. R., ✝Muñoz A. E. Hruschka D. J., Cronk L., & ** Aktipis A., (2023). Fitness interdependence as indexed by shared fate: Factor structure and validity of a new measure. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences 17 (3), 259. (IF = 1.1). https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000300 https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000300
✝ Ayers J. D., ✝Beltrán D. G., ✤Van Horn A., Cronk L., Hurmuz-Sklias H., Todd P. M., & ** Aktipis A., (2023). COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with more concern about COVID-19 and friends' risky behaviors, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 213, 2023, 112297, ISSN 0191-8869. (IF = 4.6).
✝ Guevara Beltran, D. G.,, Shiota, M. N., & ** Aktipis, A. (2023). Empathic concern motivates willingness to help in the absence of interdependence. Emotion. 24(3), 628. (IF = 4.2). https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001288 https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001288
✝ Guevara Beltran, D., Whisner, C. M., Krems, J. A., Todd, P. M., & ** Aktipis, A. (2023). Food scarcity and disease concern reduce interdependence when people eat together. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 1245–1261. (IF = 2.8). https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2972 https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2972
✝ Heiman, S.L., Claessens, S., ✝Ayers, J.D., ✝Guevara Beltrán, D., ✤Van Horn, A., Hirt E.R., Aktipis, A., & Todd, P. M., Descriptive norms caused increases in mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports 13, 11856 (2023). (IF = 3.8).
Natterson-Horowitz B., Aktipis A., Fox M., Gluckman, P.D., Low, F. M., Mace, R., Read, A., Turner, P.E., & Blumstein, D.T., The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health. Frontiers in Science (2023) 1:997136. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsci.2023.997136 https://doi.org/10.3389/fsci.2023.997136
Fedurek P., Lacroix L., Aktipis A., Cronk L., Makambi J., Mabulla, I., Lehmann J., & Berbesque C., (2023). Relationship between proximity and physiological stress levels in hunter-gatherers: The Hadza, Hormones and Behavior, Volume 147,2023 (IF = 2.4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105294 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105294
✤ Kapsetaki, S.E., Fortunato, A., Compton, Z., Rupp, S. M., Nour Z, Riggs-Davis, S., Stephenson, D., Duke, E. G., Boddy, A. M., Harrison, T.M., Maley, C. C., & **Aktipis, A., (2023). Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? PLoS One. 18(6):e0287901. PMID: 37384647; PMCID: PMC10309991. (IF = 2.9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287901 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287901
Corbett, A. J., Wilson, K. E., ✤ Van Horn, A., ✝Ayers, J. D., Hurmuz, H., & **Aktipis, A. (2023). Changes in Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Assessment. International Journal of Exercise Science, 16(5), 327-341. (IF = 0.88).
✝ Ayers, J. D., Krems, J. A., & **Aktipis, A. (2023). A factor analytic examination of women's and men's friendship preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 206, 112120. (IF = 4.6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112120 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112120
✝ Beltran, D. G., Mercado, D., ✝ Ayers, J. D., ✤Van Horn, A., Alcock, J., Todd, P. M. & **Aktipis, A. (2023). Unpredictable needs are associated with lower expectations of repayment. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 100095. (IF = 2.65). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100095 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100095
Fedurek, P., Lehmann, J., Lacroix, L., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Makambi, E. J., ... & Berbesque, J. C. (2023). Status does not predict stress among Hadza hunter-gatherer men. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1327. (IF = 3.8). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28119-9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28119-9
✝Heiman, S. L., Hirt, E. R., Isch, C., Brinkworth, J. F., Cronk, L., Alcock, J., **Aktipis, A., & Todd, P. M. (2023). Identities as predictors of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Social Issues. 79(2), 556-577. (IF = 5.2) https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12569 https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12569
✤Boddy, A. M., Rupp, S., Yu, Z., Hanson, H., Aktipis, A., & Smith, K. (2022). Early life adversity, reproductive history and breast cancer risk. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 10(1), 429-438. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoac034 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoac034
✤ Kapsetaki, S. E., ✝ Marquez Alcaraz, G., Maley, C. C., Whisner, C. M., & **Aktipis, A. (2022). Diet, microbes, and cancer across the tree of life: a systematic review. Current Nutrition Reports, 1-18. 11(3), 508-525. (IF = 4.9). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-022-00420-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-022-00420-5
Wilson, K. E., Corbett, A., Van Horn, A., ✝ Beltran, D. G., ✝ Ayers, J. D., Alcock, J., & **Aktipis, A. (2022). Associations between change over time in pandemic-related stress and change in physical activity. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 18(11), 1419-1426. (IF = 2.9). https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2021-0276 https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2021-0276
✝Krems, J., Williams, K., Merrie, L. A., Kenrick, D., & **Aktipis, A. (2022). Sex (Similarities and) differences in friendship jealousy. Evolution and Human Behavior 3(2):97-106. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.11.005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.11.005
✝Ayers, D.J., Krems, J.A., Hess, N. & **Aktipis, A. (2022). Mother-in-law daughter-in-law conflict: An evolutionary perspective, ethnographic review, and report of empirical data from the United States. Evolutionary Psychological Science. 8(1), 56-71. (IF = 1.4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-021-00312-x https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-021-00312-x
Fedurek, P., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Makambi,E. J., Mabulla, I., Berbesque, J. C., & Lehmann, J. (2022). Social status does not predict in-camp integration among egalitarian hunter-gatherer men, Behavioral Ecology, 33(1), 65-76. (IF = 2.2). https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab110 https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab110
Fedurek, P., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Danel, D. P., Makambi, J. E., Mabulla, I. A., Berbesque, J. C., Lehmann, J. (2021). The relationship between perceived friendship and proximity networks among Tanzanian Hadza. Hunter Gatherer Research, 7(1-2), 107-142. https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2021.1 https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2021.1
✝Ayers, J. D., ✝Guevara Beltrán, D., ✝Van Horn, A., Cronk, L., Todd, P. M., **Aktipis, A. (2021). Younger people and people with higher subjective SES experienced more negative effects of the pandemic on their friendships, Personality and Individual Differences,185(2022), 111246. (IF = 4.6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111246 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111246
✤ Campennì, M., Cronk, L., & **Aktipis, A. (2021). Need-Based Transfers Enhance Resilience to Shocks: An Agent-Based Model of a Maasai Risk-Pooling System. Human Ecology, 50(1), 35-48. (IF = 1.8). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00273-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00273-6
Tollis, M., Ferris,.E, Campbell, M.S., Harris, V. K., Rupp, S. M., Harrison, T. M., Kiso, W. K., Schmitt, D. L., Garner, M. M., Aktipis, C. A., Maley, C. C., Boddy, A. M., Yandell, M., Gregg, C., Schiffman, J.D., Abegglen, L. M. (2021). Elephant Genomes Reveal Accelerated Evolution in Mechanisms Underlying Disease Defenses. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38(9):3606-3620. (IF = 11). https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab127 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab127
✤ Fortunato, A., Fleming, A., **Aktipis, A., & Maley, C. C. (2021). Upregulation of DNA repair genes and cell extrusion underpin the remarkable radiation resistance of Trichoplax adhaerens. PLoS Biology, 19(11), e3001471. (IF = 9.8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001471 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001471
Cronk, L., **Aktipis, A. (2021). Design principles for risk-pooling systems. Nature Human Behavior 5, 825–833. (IF = 22). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01121-9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01121-9
Cronk, L., ✝Guevara Beltran, D., Mercado, D., & **Aktipis, A. (2021). “A solidarity-type world”: Need-based helping among ranchers in the southwestern United States. Human Nature. 1-27. (IF = 2.2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09406-8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09406-8
✝Claessens, S., ✝Ayers, J. D., Cronk, L., & **Aktipis, A. (2021). Need-based transfer systems are more vulnerable to cheating when resources are hidden. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(2), 104-112. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.08.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.08.004
✤ Townsend, C., Aktipis, A., Balliet, D., & Cronk, L. (2021). Generosity among the Ik of Uganda–Corrigendum. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, e23. (IF = 2.2). https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.3 https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.3
Dujon, A., Aktipis, A., Alix-Panabières, C., Amend, S., ✤Boddy, A., Brown, J., Capp, JP., Degregori, J., Ewald, P., Gatenby, R., Gerlinger, M., Giraudeau, M., Hamede, R., Hansen, E., Kareva, I., Maley, C., Marusyk, A., McGranahan, N., Metzger, M., Nedelcu, A., Noble, R., Nunney, L., Pienta, K., Polyak, K., Pujol, P., Read, A., Roche, B., Sebens, S., Solary, E., Staňková, K., Swain E.H., Ujvari, B., & Thomas, F. (2021). Identifying key questions in the ecology and evolution of cancer. Evolutionary Applications. 14(4), 877-892.(IF = 3.9). https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13190 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13190
✝Krems, J.A., Claessens, S., Fales, M.R., ✤Campenni, M., Haselton, M.G., & **Aktipis, A. (2021). An agent-based model of the female rivalry hypothesis for concealed ovulation in humans. Nature Human Behavior, 5(6), 726-735. (IF = 22). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01038-9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01038-9
*Aktipis, A. & ✝Beltran, D. G. (2021). Can some microbes promote host stress and benefit evolutionarily from this strategy?. BioEssays, 43(1), 2000188. (IF = 3.2).
Winfrey, P., Robertson, C., Maley, C., & Aktipis, A.** (2021). Endless Forms Most Beautiful: A Garden Shows That Cancer Is a Part of Life. Leonardo, 1-8. (IF = 0.4). https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01915 https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01915
✝Krems, J., Williams, K., Aktipis, A., Kenrick, D. (2021) Friendship jealousy: One tool for maintaining friendships in the face of third-party threats? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 120(4), 977.(IF = 6.4). https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000311 https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000311
Can some microbes promote host stress and benefit evolutionarily from this strategy?. (2021). BioEssays. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202000188
Seitz, B., Aktipis, A., Buss, D.M., Alcock, J., Bloom, P., Gelfand, M., Harris, S., Lieberman, D., Natterson-Horowitz, B., Pinker, S., Sloan Wilson, D., & Haselton, M.G. (2020). The pandemic exposes human nature: 10 evolutionary insights. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(45), 27767-27776. (IF = 9.4). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009787117 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009787117
✤ Boddy, A.M., Abegglen, L.M., Schiffman, J.D., Maley, C.C., Aktipis, A. & Witte, C. (2020). Does placental invasiveness lead to higher rates of malignant transformation in mammals? Response to: “Available data suggests positive relationship between placental invasion and malignancy.” Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. 2020(1), 215-216. (IF = 3.0).
✤ Boddy, A. M., Abegglen, L. M., Pessier, A. P., Aktipis, A, Schiffman, J. D., Maley, C. C., & Witte, C. (2020). Lifetime cancer prevalence and life history traits in mammals. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. 2020 (1), 187-195. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoaa015 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoaa015
*Aktipis, A., Whitaker, R., & ✝Ayers, J. D. (2020). Do Smartphones Create a Coordination Problem for Face‐to‐Face Interaction? Leveraging Game Theory to Understand and Solve the Smartphone Dilemma. BioEssays, 42 (4), 180026. (IF = 3.2). https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201800261 https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201800261
Fedurek, P., Lacroix, L., Lehmann, J., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., ✝Townsend, C., Makambi, E. J., Mabulla, I., Behrends, V. & Berbesque, J. C. (2020). Status Does Not Predict Stress: Women in an Egalitarian Hunter-Gatherer Society. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1-32. (IF = 2.2). https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.44 https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.44
Amara, S. N. A., Kuiken, H. J., Selfors, L. M., Butler, T., Leung, M. L., Leung, C. T., Kuhn, E.P., Kolarova, T.R., Hage, C., Ganesh, K., Foster, R., Rueda, B.R., Aktipis, A., Spellman, P.T., Ince, T., Navin, N., Mills, G.B., Bronson, R.T., Brugge, J.S.S.(2020). Transient Commensal Clonal Interactions Can Drive Tumor Metastasis. Nature Communications. 11(1), 5799. (IF = 14.7). https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.16.907071 https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.16.907071
Generosity among the Ik of Uganda. (2020). Evolutionary Human Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.22
Cronk, L., Aktipis, A., Gazzillo, S., White, D., Wutich, A., & Sopher, B. (2019). Common knowledge promotes risk pooling in an experimental economic game. PLOS One, 14(8). (IF = 2.9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220682 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220682
✝May, A., ✝Narayanan, S., Alcock, J., Varsani, A., Maley, C., & **Aktipis, A. (2019). Kombucha: A novel model system for cooperation and conflict in a complex multi-species microbial ecosystem. PeerJ, 7, e7565. (IF = 2.7) https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7565 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7565
Whisner, C. M., **Aktipis, A. (2019). The role of the microbiome in cancer initiation and progression: How microbes and cancer cells utilize excess energy and promote one another’s growth. Current Nutrition Reports, 1-10. (IF = 4.9) https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-019-0257-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-019-0257-2
Cronk, L., Steklis, D., Steklis, N., ✝van den Akker, O., **Aktipis, A. (2019) Kin terms and fitness interdependence. Evolution and Human Behavior. 40(3):281-29. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8w9mg https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8w9mg
✝Fortunato, A., & **Aktipis, A. (2019). Social feeding behavior of Trichoplax adhaerens. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 19. (IF=2.4) https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00019 https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00019
Wu, D., Aktipis, A., Pepper, J. (2019). Energy Oversupply to Tissues: A Single Mechanism Possibly Underlying Multiple Cancer Risk Factors, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, eoz004 (IF = 3.0) https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoz004 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoz004
*Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., ✝Sznycer, D., Alcock, J., ✝Ayers, J., ✝Baciu, C., Balliet, D., ✝Boddy, A., Curry, O., ✝Krems, J., ✝Munoz, A., Sullivan, D., Wilkinson, G., Winfrey, P. (2018). Understanding cooperation through fitness interdependence. Nature Human Behavior, 2, 429:431. (IF = 22). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0378-4 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0378-4
Cronk, L. & **Aktipis, A. (2018). Identity fusion and fitness interdependence. [Commentary on “Dying for the group: Towards a general theory of extreme self-sacrifice” by Whitehouse] Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41. (IF = 16.6). https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x18001711 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x18001711
Ryan, S.F., Adamson, N.L., Aktipis, A., Andersen, L.K., Austin, R. Barnes, L., Beasley, M.R., Bedell, M.R., Briggs, S., Chapman, B., Cooper, C., Corn, J., Creamer, N.G., Delborne, J.A., Domenico, P., Driscoll, E., Goodwin, J., Hjarding, A., Hulbert, J.M., Isard, S., Just, M.G., Kar Gupta, K., Lopez-Uribe, M.M., O’Sullivan, J., Landis, E.A., Madden, A.A., McKenney, E.A., Nichols, L.M., Reading, B., Russell, S., Sengupta, N., Shapiro, L.R., Shell, L., Sheard, J.K, Shoemaker, D.D., Sorger, D.M., Starling, C., Thakur, S., Vatsavai, R., Weinstein, M., Wimfrey, P., Dunn, R.R. (2018). The role of citizen science in addressing grand challenges in food and agriculture research. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285(1891), 20181977. (IF = 3.8) https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1977 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1977
Jorgensen, P., Aktipis, A., Brown, Z., Carriere, Y., Downes, S., Dunn, R.R., Epstein, G., Frisvold, G.B., Hawthorne, D., Grohn, Y., Tikaramsa Gujar, G., Jasovsky, D., Klein, E.Y., Klein, F., Lhermie, G., Mota-Sanchez, D., Omoto, C., Schluter, M., Scott, H.M., Wernli, D., & Carroll, S.P. (2018). Antibiotic and pesticide susceptibility and the Anthropocene operating space. Nature Sustainability, 1(11), 632-641. (IF = 25.7). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0164-3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0164-3
✤ Boddy, A.M., Huang, W., & Aktipis, A.** (2018). Life history trade-offs in tumors. Current Pathobiology Reports, 6(4), 201-207. (IF = 0.8). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-018-0188-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-018-0188-4
Tidball, K. & **Aktipis, A. (2018). Feedback enhances greening during disaster recovery: A model of social and ecological processes in neighborhood-scale investment. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 34, 269-280. (IF = 6.0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.07.005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.07.005
Cronk, L. & **Aktipis, A. (2018). Sacredness as an implied threat of supernatural punishment: the case of need-based transfers, Religion, Brain & Behavior, 8:3, 282-285,. (IF = 3.8). https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2017.1302978 https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599x.2017.1302978
Sznycer, D., Xygalatas, D., Agey, E., Alami, S., An, X., Ananyeva, K., Atkinson, Q., Broitman, B., Conte, T., Flores, C., Fukushima, S., Hitokoto, H., Kharitonov, A., Onyishi, C., Onyishi, I., Romero, P., Schrock, J., Snodgrass, J., Sugiyamaq, L., Takemurar, K., Townsend, C., Zhuang, J., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2018). Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America**,* 115(39), 9702-9707. (IF = 9.4) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805016115 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805016115
Stanley, L., Aktipis, A, & Maley, C. (2018). Cancer Initiation and Progression within the Cancer Microenvironment. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 35(5), 361-367. (IF =4.2) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-018-9921-y https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-018-9921-y
✝Fortunato, A., King, L. M., Mallo, D., Kovacheva, V. N., Yuan, Y., ✝Boddy, A. M., Graham, T. A., Aktipis, A., Mardis, E. R., Hall, A. T., Marks, J., ✝Hwang, S., ✝Maley, C. (2017). Abstract P1-05-30: Genomic and microenvironmental intra-tumor heterogeneity in DCIS. Cancer Research, 77(4_Supplement), P1-05. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.sabcs16-p1-05-30 https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.sabcs16-p1-05-30
*Aktipis, A. & Maley, C. (2017). Cooperation and cheating as innovation: Insights from cellular societies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1735), 20160421. (IF = 6.7) https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0421 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0421
Maley, C., Aktipis, A., Graham, T., Sottoriva, A., ✝Boddy, A., Janiszewska, M., Silva, A., Gerlinger, M., Yuan, Y., Pienta, K., Anderson, K., Gatenby, R., Swanton, C., Posada, D., Wu, C., Schiffman, J., Hwang, S., Polyak, K., Anderson, A., Brown, J., Greaves, M., & Shibata, D. (2017). Classifying the evolutionary and ecological features of neoplasms. Nature Reviews Cancer, 17(10), 605. (IF = 72.5) https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.69 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.69
Lote, H., Spiteru, I., ✝Ermini, L., Vatsiou, A., Roy, A., McDonald, A., Maka, N., Balsitis, M., Bose, N., Simbolo, M., Mafficini, A., Lampis, A., Hahne, JC., Trvisani, F., Eltahir, Z., Mentrasti, G.,Findlay, C., Punta, M., Werner, B., Lise, S., Aktipis, A., Maley, C., Greves, M., Braconi, C., White, J., Fassan, M., Scarpa, A., Sottoriva, A., Valeri, N. (2017). Carbon dating cancer: defining the chronology of metastatic progression in colorectal cancer. Annals of Oncology, 28(6), 1243-1249., 28(6), 1243-1249 (IF = 56.7) https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdx074 https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdx074
✤ Fortunato, A., ✤ Boddy, A., Mallo, D., Aktipis, A., Maley, C. C., & Pepper, J. W. (2017). Natural Selection in Cancer Biology: From Molecular Snowflakes to Trait Hallmarks. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 7(2), a029652. (IF = 8.3) https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a029652 https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a029652
Andor, N., Graham, T. A., Jansen, M., Xia, L. C., Aktipis, A., Petritsch, C. K., Ji, H. P., ✝Maley, C. C. (2016). Abstract 2387: Pan-cancer analysis of clonal evolution reveals the costs and adaptive benefits of genomic instability. Cancer Research, 76(14_Supplement), 2387-2387. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2016-2387 https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2016-2387
✤ Wasielewski, H., Alcock, J., **Aktipis A. (2016). Resource conflict and cooperation between human host and gut microbiota: implications for nutrition and health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1372: 20–28.; (IF = 5.2). https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13118 https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13118
*Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., ✝De Aguilar, R (2016). Cooperation in an uncertain world: For the Maasai of East Africa need-based transfers outperform account keeping in volatile environments. Human Ecology, 44(3): 353–364. (IF = 1.8) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9823-z https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9823-z
*Aktipis, A. (2016). Principles of cooperation across systems: from human sharing to multicellularity and cancer. Evolutionary Applications, 9:17–36 (IF = 3.5) https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.1230 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.1230
Andor, N., Graham, T., Jansen, M., Xia, L., Aktipis, A., Petritsch, P., Ji, H., and Maley, C. (2016). Pan-cancer analysis of the extent and consequences of intratumor heterogeneity." Nature Medicine, 22(1): 105-113. (IF= 82.9) https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3984 https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3984
*Aktipis, A. (2016). Life history theory and breast cancer risk: methodological and theoretical challenges, response to “Is estrogen receptor negative breast cancer risk associated with a fast life history strategy?” Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health (1), 177-179 (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eov035 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eov035
Andor, N., Graham, T. A., Aktipis, A., Petritsch, C. K., Ji, H. P., ✝Maley, C. C. (2015). Abstract LB-163: Pan-cancer analysis of the causes and consequences of Intra-tumor heterogeneity. Cancer Research, 75(15_Supplement), LB-163. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2015-lb-163 https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2015-lb-163
Hao, Y., Armbruster, D., Cronk, L., & **Aktipis, A. (2015). Need-based transfers on a network: a model of risk-pooling in ecologically volatile environments. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(4), 265-273. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.12.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.12.003
✤ Boddy, A. M., ✝Fortunato, A., Wilson Sayres, M, & **Aktipis, A. (2015). Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb. Bioessays, 37: 1106–1118. (IF = 3.2) https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500059 https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500059
Maley, C.C., Koelble, K., Natrajan, R., Aktipis, A., Yuan, Y. (2015). An ecological measure of immune-cancer colocalization as a prognostic factor for breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research 17 (1) (IF = 6.1) https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-015-0638-4 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-015-0638-4
*Aktipis, A., ✝Boddy, A., Jansen, G., Hochberg, M., Maley, C., Hibner, U., Wilkinson, G. (2015). Cancer across life: Cooperation and cheating in multicellularity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, (370)1673, 20140219, (IF = 6.7) https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0219 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0219
✤ Boddy, A., Kokko, H., Breden, F., Wilkinson, G. **Aktipis, A., (2015). Cancer susceptibility and reproductive tradeoffs: A model of the evolution of cancer defenses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1673), 20140220. (IF = 6.7) https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0220 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0220
Brown, J., **Aktipis, A., (2015). Inclusive fitness effects can select for cancer suppression into old age. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1673), 20150160. (IF = 6.7) https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0160 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0160
Hidaka, B. H., Asghar, A., Aktipis A., Nesse, R.M., Wolpaw, T.M., Skursky, N.K., Bennett, K.J., Beyrouty, M.W., Schwartz, M.D. (2015). The status of evolutionary medicine education in North American medical schools. BMC Medical Education, 15(1): 38. (IF = 3.08) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-015-0322-5 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-015-0322-5
Jansen, G., Gatenby, B., **Aktipis, A. (2015). Control vs. eradication: Adopting strategies from infectious disease treatment to cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112.4 937. (IF = 9.4)
*Aktipis, A., Ellis, B.J., Nishimura, K. ✝, Hiatt, R.A., (2015). Modern reproductive patterns associated with estrogen receptor positive but not negative breast cancer susceptibility. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health (2014): eou028. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eou028 https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eou028
Jansen, G., & **Aktipis, A. (2014). Resistance Is Mobile: The Accelerating Evolution of Mobile Genetic Elements Encoding Resistance. Journal of Evolutionary Medicine. Vol. 2, Article ID 235873 (IF = 0.25). https://doi.org/10.4303/jem/235873 https://doi.org/10.4303/jem/235873
Alcock, J., Maley, C.C., **Aktipis, A. (2014). Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms. Bioessays. 36(10), 940-949. (IF = 3.2). https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201400071 https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201400071
Bryant, G, Aktipis, A. (2014). The animal nature of spontaneous human laughter. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(4), 327-335. (IF = 3.0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.03.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.03.003
*Aktipis, A., ✝Boddy, A., Brown, J., Gatenby, R, Maley C. C. (2013). Life history tradeoffs in cancer evolution. Nature Reviews Cancer, 13, 883-892. (IF = 72.5) https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3606 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3606
*Aktipis, A., Nesse, R. (2013). Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology. Evolutionary Applications, 6(1) 144-159. (IF = 3.94) https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.12034 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.12034
Sprouffske, K, Aktipis, A., Radisch, J.P., Carroll, M, Nedelcu, A. M., Maley, C. C. (2013). An evolutionary explanation for the presence of cancer non-stem cells in neoplasms. Evolutionary Applications, 6(1) 92-101. (IF = 3.94)
*Aktipis, A., Maley, C.C., Pepper, J. W. (2011). Dispersal evolution in neoplasms: The role of disregulated metabolism in the evolution of cell motility. Cancer Prevention Research, 5(2) 266-275 (IF = 2.9) https://doi.org/10.1158/1940-6207.capr-11-0004 https://doi.org/10.1158/1940-6207.capr-11-0004
*Aktipis, A., Kwan, V.S.Y., Johnson, K. A., Neuberg, S.L., Maley, C.C. (2011) Overlooking evolution: A systematic analysis of cancer relapse and therapeutic resistance research. PLoS ONE, 6(11): e26100. (IF = 2.9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026100 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0026100
*Aktipis, A. (2011). Is cooperation viable in mobile organisms? Simple Walk Away strategy favors the evolution of cooperation in groups. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(4) 263-276. (IF = 3.04). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.01.002
*Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., ✝De Aguilar, R. (2011). Risk-pooling and herd survival: An agent-based model of a Maasai gift-giving system. Human Ecology, 39(2) 131-140. (IF = 1.8) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9364-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9364-9
*Aktipis, A., Fernandez-Duque, E. (2011). Parental investment without kin recognition: Simple rules for parent-offspring behavior. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 65(5) 1079-1091. (IF = 1.8)
*Aktipis, A., Thompson-Schill, S. (2010) Positive assortment for peer review. Adaptive Behavior, 18(5) 448-450. (IF= 1.2) https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712310384281 https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712310384281
Phillips-Silver, J., **Aktipis, A., Bryant, G. (2010). The ecology of entrainment: Foundations of coordinated rhythmic movement. Music Perception, 28 (1) 3-14. NIHMSID # 289838. (IF = 1.3) https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2010.28.1.3 https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2010.28.1.3
Bendick, R., Dahlin, K.M., Smoliak, S., Kumler, L., Jones, S., Aktipis, A., Fugate, E., Hertog, R., Moberg, C., Scott, D. (2010). Choosing carbon mitigation strategies using ethical deliberation. Weather, Climate and Society, 2(2), 140-147. (IF= 2.2) https://doi.org/10.1175/2010wcas1036.1 https://doi.org/10.1175/2010wcas1036.1
Kurzban, R.; Aktipis, A. (2007). Modularity and the social mind: Are Psychologists too self-ish? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(2), 131-149. (IF= 8.6)
*Aktipis, A. (2006). Recognition memory and the evolution of cooperation: How simple strategies succeed in an agent-based world. Adaptive Behavior, 14, 239-247. (IF = 1.2) https://doi.org/10.1177/105971230601400301 https://doi.org/10.1177/105971230601400301
*Aktipis, A. (2004). Know when to walk away: Contingent movement and the evolution of cooperation. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 231(2), 249-260. (IF = 1.9) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.06.020 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.06.020
*Aktipis, A.; Kurzban, R.O. (2004). Is Homo economicus extinct? Vernon Smith, Daniel Kahneman and the Evolutionary Perspective. Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Theory, Advances in Austrian Economics, 7, 135-153. (IF = 1.1).
Wakeland, W.W.; Gallaher, E.J; Macovsky, L.M.; Aktipis, A. (2004). A comparison of system dynamics and agent-based simulation applied to the study of cellular receptor dynamics. 37th Annual Conference of the Hawaii International Complex System Society, January 2004. https://doi.org/10.1109/hicss.2004.1265242 https://doi.org/10.1109/hicss.2004.1265242
*Aktipis, A. (2000). The effect of behavioral assortment on selection dynamics: Externalities, information processing and subjective commitment. Eilis Boudreau and Carlo Maley, eds., Proceedings of the Artificial Life VII Workshops, 90-93.
*Aktipis, A. (2000). An evolutionary perspective on consciousness: The role of emotion, theory of mind and self-deception. The Harvard Brain: Journal of Mind, Brain and Behavior, 7, 29-34.

Book Chapters

Fermenting for the Zombie Apocalypse. (2020). https://doi.org/10.52750/546049

Preprints and Manuscripts Under Review

Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time. (2026). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/kyg4d_v2
Sources of Fitness Interdependence Associated with Shared Fate and Cooperation in a Small-scale Horticultural Society. (2025). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/pyh3j_v1
Association between national action and trends in antibiotic resistance: an analysis of 73 countries from 2000 to 2023. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.25.24313966
The future of evolutionary medicine. (2023). https://doi.org/10.52843/cassyni.114pns
How do you build the perfect friend? Evidence from two forced-choice decision-making experiments. (2023). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jv63b
Unpredictable Needs are Associated with Lower Expectations of Repayment. (2023). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/pwh7a
Wishing our friends would take it seriously: What predicts concern about friends’ behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic?. (2023). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2wdgt
Descriptive norms caused increases in mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2022). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/j87pn
The ecology of cancer prevalence across species: Cancer prevalence is highest in desert species and high trophic levels. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.23.504890
What is Reciprocity? A Review and Expert-based Classification of Cooperative Transfers. (2022). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cz3ue
COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with more concern about COVID-19 and friends’ risky behaviors. (2021). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qkp8b
A factor analytic examination of women's and men's friendship preferences. (2021). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jd7xv
What predicts attitudes about mask wearing?. (2021). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jvspx
Younger people and people with higher subjective SES experience more negative effects of the pandemic on their friendships. (2021). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wkj4x
Mother-in-law daughter-in-law conflict: An evolutionary perspective and report of empirical data from the United States. (2020). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/uvcp4
Sex (Similarities and) Differences in Friendship Jealousy. (2020). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gfpd8
Elephant Genomes Elucidate Disease Defenses and Other Traits. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.29.124396
Fitness interdependence as indexed by shared fate: Factor structure and validity of a new measure. (2020). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7yzhd
Friendship jealousy: One tool for maintaining friendships in the face of third-party threats?. (2020). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wdc2q
Need-Based Transfer Systems are More Vulnerable to Cheating When Resources are Hidden. (2019). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5xerv

2026: Updated 29 Sep 2026
: Curriculum Vitae
: Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University
: Founding Director, Cooperative Future Institute
: aktipis@asu.edu · www.athenaaktipis.org

Core positions

2024: 2024–26 President, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer (ISEEC)
2022–2025: Assistant Director of Research, Global Futures Laboratory (GDL)
2020–present: Founder, President, Producer, Zombified Media (https://www.zombifiedmedia.org)
2019–present: Lincoln Professor of Cooperation and Social Behavior, Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics
2019–present: Co-Director, Cooperation Science Network (CSN www.cooperationscience.org)
2018–present: Founder & Director, Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative (ICI), ASU President’s Office
2015–present: Arizona State University, Department of Psychology Full Professor from 2026 Associate Professor from 2020 Assistant Professor from 2015-2020
2014–present: Co-Director, The Human Generosity Project (HGP www.humangenerosity.org)
: Arizona State University, Cooperative Future Institute Founding Director

Member positions

2015–present: Member, Center for Evolution and Medicine
2015–present: Member, Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity

Past positions

2017–2020: Member, ASU Biodesign Center for Biocomputation, Security & Society
2016–2020: Member, ASU Biodesign Center for Fundamental & Applied Microbiomics
2014–2020: External Faculty, Center for Evolution and Cancer, Institute for Cancer Research, London
2012–2014: Johns Hopkins, Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavioral and Health Sciences, External Faculty
2011–2014: Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, Assistant Research Professor
2010–2014: University of California San Francisco, Center for Evolution and Cancer, Director of Human and Social Evolution & Research Scientist
2010: (Spring) University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology, Adjunct Professor
2009–2011: Arizona State University, Decision Center for a Desert City, Consultant
2009: (Summer) Wistar Institute, Visiting Scientist
2002–2003: Portland State University, Course Developer/Instructor for Agent Based Simulation
1999: University of Arizona Economic Science Laboratory, Visiting Scholar

Awards and honors

2025: Honorable Mention, for the Zombified Podcast; 2025 Public Humanities Network Leadership in Practice and Community Awards, CHCI Public Humanities Network
2020: 2020–23 Fellow at the Recovering Truth project, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, ASU
2017: Lincoln Professor in ASU’s Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics
2013: 2013–14 Fellow & Elected Fellow’s Representative at the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, Wissenschaftskolleg
2012: National Academy of Science Kavli Fellow
2011: Distinguished Alumni Award, Willowbrook
2002: State Finalist, Rhodes Scholarship
2002: Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, Reed College
2002: Commendation for Academic Excellence, Reed College
2001: Udall Scholarship (declined due to conflict with attendance at Max Plank Institute, Berlin)
2000: Honorable mention, Udall Foundation

RESEARCH

2026: google scholar h-index: 45, with 10,176 citations, as of 6 Oct 2026. Excluding self-citations the h-index is 38, counted on the OpenAlex citation graph.
: * indicates where I am first author; ** indicates where I am senior author; ✝ indicates graduate students/trainees mentored by me and ✤ indicates post-doc authors advised or mentored by me
: My research is inherently interdisciplinary, as I study the general principles that underlie cooperation across systems, from human societies to cellular ones (including looking at cancer as a problem of cheating in multicellular bodies). This means that my publications are in a combination of psychology, biology and anthropology journals.

Chapters, preprints and other contributions (post-tenure)

✝Ayers, J., **Aktipis, A. (2025). Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it. https://doi.org/10.64628/aai.scpt39cgx https://doi.org/10.64628/aai.scpt39cgx
✝Ayers, J. D., ✝Beltrán, D. G., Mercado, D. L., **Aktipis, A. (2025). Friendship promiscuity as indexed by preferences for wide networks and intimacy with many friends: structure and validity of a new construct. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/89ywf_v1 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/89ywf_v1
✝Yavari, B., Kolbehdari, N., Gann, L., Portillo, M., Rumschlag, A., Aldridge, M., Mellon, W., ✝Alcaraz, G. M., Richker, H. I., Sarkissian, M., Compton, Z. T., Aktipis, A., ✝Maley, C. C., Baciu, C. (2024). The Digital Health Revolution: Exploring the Impact of Online Cancer Information on Self-Reported Preventive Behaviors. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.20.24307517 https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.20.24307517
✝Alcaraz, G. M., ✝Kapsetaki, S. E., Aktipis, A., Whisner, C. M. (2023). On the Hunt for Cancer’s Microbial “Party” in the Animal Kingdom. Frontiers for Young Minds, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2023.1006057 https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2023.1006057
*Aktipis A., & Guevara Beltran D., (2023) Review of “Work, Love, and Learning in Utopia: Equality Reimagined”, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 24:1, 141-143,. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2022.2137656 https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2022.2137656
Tidball, K. G., ✤Van Horn, A., ✝Guevara Beltran, D., ✝Ayers, J.D., Cronk, L., **Aktipis, A. (2021). Parks, Urgent Biophilia, Interdependence, and Resilience During Times of Crisis: The COVID19 Example. In The Transformative Power of Parks. Eds. Fix, P., Larson, L., Lekies, K., Park, S., Skoll, K., Tidball, K., & Stein, T. Sagamore Venture Publishing.
Cronk, L., **Aktipis, A. (2019). Virtual Cattle and Actual Friends. Anthropology News, 60(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/an.1115 https://doi.org/10.1111/an.1115
* indicates papers for which I am first author; ** indicates where I am senior author; ✝ indicates graduate student, trainee or post-doc authors mentored by me
✝ Guevara Beltran D., Isch C., ✝ Ayers J. D., Alcock J., Brinkworth J. F., Cronk L. , Hurmuz-Sklias H.,Tidball K., Van Horn A., Todd P. M., **Aktipis A., The role of Perceived Risk, Stress, and Future Orientation on Mask Wearing During COVID-19 Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.
✝ Ayers, J. D., ✝ Beltrán, D. G., ✤Van Horn A., Hurmuz-Sklias, H., Cronk, L., Todd, P. M. Aktipis, A. Wishing our friends would take it seriously: What predicts concern about friends’ behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic? All data and code for this study are available at: https://osf.io/jkt9c/? view_only=be11b5093a134a2c97fedccce54ef73a.

Chapters, preprints and other contributions (pre-tenure)

Cronk, L., Berbesque, C., ✝Conte, T., ✤ Gervais, M., ✝Iyer, P., ✝McCarthy, D., ✝Sonkoi, D. ✤ Townsend, C., **Aktipis A. (2019). Managing risk through cooperation: Need-based transfers and risk pooling among the societies of the Human Generosity Project. In Global Perspectives on Long-Term Community Resource Management, Lozny, L.R., and McGovern, T.H., eds. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15800-2_4 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15800-2_4
*Aktipis, A. (2017). Genetic conflict and the monster. In Frankenstein: A New Edition for Scientists and Engineers. The MIT Press. P122. 2017
Greaves, M. & **Aktipis, A. (2016). Mismatches with Our Ancestral Environments and Cancer Risk. In C. Maley & M. Greaves (Eds.), Frontiers in Cancer Research (pp. 195-216). New York, NY: Springer.
Schiffman, J.D., White, R.M., Graham, T.A., Huang, Q., **Aktipis, A. (2016). The Darwinian Dynamics of Motility and Metastasis. In C. Maley & M. Greaves (Eds.), Frontiers in Cancer Research (pp. 135-176). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6460-4_8 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6460-4_8
*Aktipis, A., (2016) Revolutionary biology: Evolutionary biology and ecology of cancer summer school supports a growing field. This View of Life, July 19. https://thisviewoflife.com/revolutionary-biology-evolutionary-biology-and-ecology-of-cancer-summer-school-supports-a-growing-field/
Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A. (2015). The Human Generosity Project. Anthropology News, July/August 2015, pages 31-32
Gazzillo, S., Sopher, B., Aktipis, A., & Cronk, L. (2013). The origins of risk sharing: An experimental approach. Working Paper No. 2013-02, Department of Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
*Aktipis, A., Maley, C.C. (2011). The self-ish cell: Cancer’s emerging evolutionary paradigm. Evolution and Medicine Review (August 9). http://evmedreview.com/?p=764.
*Aktipis, A. (2010). Why We Cooperate by Michael Tomasello, with Carol Dweck, Joan Silk, Brian Skyrms and Elizabeth Spelke .. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 13.
Anderson, M. R., **Aktipis, A. (2010). The Origins of Collective Overvaluation: Irrational exuberance emerges from simple, honest and rational individual behavior. eScholarship (California Digital Library), 32(32).
*Aktipis, A., Maley, C. C., & Neuberg. S. L. (2010). Psychological barriers to evolutionary thinking in medicine. Evolution and Medicine Review (Feb 24). http://evmedreview.com/?p=231
*Aktipis, A. (2010). Book review of ‘Why we cooperate’ by M. Tomasello. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 13(3) http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/13/3/reviews/7.html
*Aktipis, A. (2008). When to Walk Away and when to stay: Cooperation evolves when agents can leave unproductive partners and groups. Dissertation.
Kurzban, R.; Aktipis, A. (2007). On detecting the footprints of multilevel selection. Gangestad, S. W. & J. A. Simpson (Eds.) Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and Controversies. New York: Guilford, 226-232.
Kurzban, R. O., Aktipis, A. (2006). Modular minds, multiple motives. Shaller, M; Simpson, J & Kenrick, D. (Eds.) Evolution and Social Psychology, 39-53. New York: Psychology Press.

Manuscripts under review

✝Gibson, A., ✝Ayers, J. D., Parmeggiani, C., ✝Alcaraz, G. M., Jungwirth, A. R., Ellison, C. E., Bassel, G., Maynard, A., Cronk, L., **Aktipis, A. Cooperation Science: Mapping the Landscape of a New Discipline. PsyArXiv; 2024. Pending revision at Quarterly Review of Biology. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2yqj8 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2yqj8
* indicates papers for which I am first author; ** indicates where I am senior author; ✝ indicates graduate student, trainee or post-doc authors mentored by me
✝Van Horn, A., Mercado, D. L., ✝Guevara-Beltran, D., Hurmuz-Sklias, H., Tidball, K. G., Cronk, L., Todd, P. M., & Aktipis, A. (accepted, pending revision). Time Enough at Last: Fear of infection and boredom drive time dilation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Maley, C., Nedelcu, A., Boddy, A., & Aktipis, A. (pending revision). Multicellular Cooperation and the Hallmarks of Cancer: A New Foundation. Evolution, Medicine and Public Health (EMPH).
*Aktipis, A., (under revision). The cheater detector of the genome: A signal detection analysis of TP53 activation predicts differential patterns of cancer suppression across species. Evolution, Medicine and Public Health
Alcock, J., Aktipis, A., ✝Boddy, A., Day, T., Femling, J., Flinn, M., Hochberg, M., Jansen, G., Read, A., Maley, C. (under review). Heuristics for DOCS: defining a new normal in medicine. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
✝Guevara-Beltran, D., Isch, C., ✝Ayers, J., Alcock, J., Brinkworth, J., Cronk, L., Hurmuz-Sklias, H., Tidball, K., ✝Van Horn, A., Todd, P. & Aktipis, A. (under review). In-person Interactions, Large-Group Gatherings, and Mitigating Behaviors during COVID-19.
✝Guevara Beltran, D., ✝Ayers, J. D., Kwon, J.Y., A., Todd, P. M., & Aktipis, A. (under review). Helping in Times of Need Cultivates Empathic Concern Over Time.
✝Guevara Beltran, D., ✝Ayers, J. D., Cronk L., Balliet, D. P., Koster J., & Aktipis, A. (submitted). Sources of fitness interdependence associated with shared fate and cooperation in a small-scale horticultural society.
Laplane, L., Lamoureux, A., Richker, H., Marquez Alcaraz, G., Fortunato, A., Shaffer, Z., Aktipis, A., Mischel, P., Plutynski, A., Townsend, J., & Maley, C. (invited & submitted to PLoS Biology Magazine ). Multilevel Selection in Cancer.

Grants (post-tenure)

2023: What rules of life allow collectives to effectively manage risk? (NSF GR44330) Aktipis is PI and project Director. Total funding is $1,500,00 with $982,637 direct costs for 2023-2027.
2023: Museum Labs 2.0: Social Science Experiments on Cooperation (NSF AISL1811043). Exploratorium Museum San Francisco: Josh Gutwill, PI & Heike Winterheld, Co-PI. Aktipis is scientific advisor. Total project: $300,000. 2023 - 2026.
2020: $2M directs in total grants post-tenure (2020 to present)
2020: Developing the Field of Cooperation Science: Exploring human nature and cultural evolution through interdisciplinary research. John Templeton Foundation. Aktipis is Co-PI and project Co-Director. Total funding is $234,041 for 2020-2022.
2020: Mutual aid in the contemporary United States: A proposal for new empirical research. Charles Koch Foundation. Aktipis is Co-PI and project Co-Director. Total funding is $228,938 for 2020-2022.
2020: Cooperation in the times of COVID19. Institute for Mental Health Research. Aktipis is PI. $5,000 direct. 2020.
2020: Ecology, Interdependence, and Cooperation. European Research Council. Aktipis is Advisor. Total project is 2 million Euro. 2020 - 2025.
: Apocalypse Pop Up Cafes. Lincoln Center for Ethics, Arizona State University. Aktipis is PI. $1,500. This grant funds 3 Apocalypse Pop-Up Cafes which will be facilitated by Aktipis with the goal of building a foundation for effective collaborations among researchers across ASU.

Grants (pre-tenure)

2019: The C Word (Betsy on the run). A narrative podcast about cancer. Funded through Arizona Cancer Evolution Center pilot projects award. Aktipis is Producer together with Pamela Winfrey. Awarded $6,000 total. 2019.
2018: Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative. Arizona State University. Aktipis is PI and project Director. Total funding is $375,000 for 2018 – 2023.
2010: $8.2M directs in grants pre-tenure (2010 to 2019)
2010: Modeling the causes and consequences of the evolution of cell motility in neoplasms (NIH F32 CA144331, Aktipis was PI, with funding of $156,000 5/1/2010- 5/1/2013)
2010: Exploring the applicability of the osotua sharing rule to address fragmented water governance in Arizona, 2010. Decision Center for a Desert City, Arizona State University Aktipis was PI, funding of $42,000
2005: Russell Ackoff Research Grant, Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, U Penn, 2005 Aktipis was PI, funding of $2,200
2003: Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation 2003-2007, Aktipis was PI (approx. $150,000)
: Arizona Cancer Evolution Center. Applying models of evolution to cancer across scales, from species down to cells. (NIH U54). Drs. Carlo Maley and Darryl Shibata Co-PIs. Aktipis is co-Investigator. $6,225,000 direct costs/yrs 1-5. Aktipis funding is $83,055 direct/yrs 1-5, 3/1/18-2/28/23
: Generous by Nature: The Human Generosity Project. John Templeton Foundation. Aktipis was PI along with Cronk, total funding was $1,700,000 in direct costs 7/1/14-7/1/17.
: Breakthrough Award DoD/Breast Cancer Research Program Genomic and Microenvironmental Diversity as Drivers of Progression in DCIS (Drs. Carlo Maley and Shelley Hwang PIs) Aktipis was co-investigator with funding of $58,690 total direct/yrs 1-5 6/1/14-5/31/19
: Genomic and Microenvironmental Diversity as Drivers of Metastasis in DCIS PQC3 (NIH/NCI, R01 Drs. Carlo Maley and Shelley Hwang Co-PIs) Aktipis was co-Investigator with funding of $36,348 direct/yrs 1-4, 4/1/14-3/31/18
: Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Cactus Garden at ASU. Frankenstein Bicentennial Small Grants Program at ASU. Aktipis is PI, along with Maley and Winfrey. Awarded $5,000 total.
: Application of Evolutionary Principles to Maintain Cancer Control PQ21 (NIH/NCI R01CA170595-01, Dr. Robert Gatenby PI) Aktipis was co-Investigator with $369,408 direct/yrs 1-4 7/1/12-6/30/16
: Modeling neoplastic progression in Barrett’s esophagus (R01 CA140657, Drs. Pepper and Maley, Co-PIs) NIH 7/1/09-6/30/10, Aktipis was Postdoctoral Fellow. Total direct was $457,257.

ASU service, University

2025: Organizer and facilitator, Societal Will Workshop, Global Futures Laboratory, Jan 31
2023: Co-produced and hosted 5 video series for ASU’s Learning Sparks on cooperation and risk
2022–present: Assistant Director of Research, Global Futures Laboratory
2020: Host and co-producer of “The Science of Zombification” on ASU’s YouTube Channel
2020: Instructor, Innovation Week (December 7-11) & Innovation Quarter (December 14, 21, & Jan 4)
2018–present: Director, ASU Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative
2018–2021: Behavioral Genomics ASU Leadership Academy Team member

ASU service, College

2019–2020: Center for Evolution and Medicine, Search Committee
2017–2018: Selection committee for Harry Lowell Swift Advancing Health Scholarship
2016–2017: ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences CLAS Special Research Committee

ASU service, Psychology Department

2025–present: Incoming Area Head, Social Psychology Area, Department of Psychology
2024–2026: Faculty Evaluation Committee, Department of Psychology
2024: Cialdini Speaker Series Research Fund Committee, Department of Psychology
2023–2024: Co-Organizer with Mike McBeath, Psychology Music Jam
2023: Promotion Committee for Kathy Johnson (Research Professor)
2022–2023: Co-Organizer, Cross Area Talks (CAT)
2022: Created exhibitions, EMERGE festival, ASU https://emerge.asu.edu
2020–2023: Member, Psych4All Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Committee
2017: Created exhibitions, EMERGE festival, ASU https://emerge.asu.edu/emerge-2017
2016–2023: Created art exhibitions, ASU Open Door & ASU Homecoming Activities
2016–2017: Psychology Chair Search Committee
2015–2016: Faculty Evaluation of Teaching Committee, Psychology

Elected positions

2024: 2024–26 President, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
2020: 2020–22 Incoming President, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
2018: 2018–20 Vice President, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
2013: 2013–14 Fellows Representative, Institute for Advanced Study, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin

Conference organizing

2025: Conference Chair, Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Eureka Springs, Arkansas Oct 20-23
2024: Conference Chair, Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Eureka Springs, Arkansas Oct 21-24
2024: Program Committee, International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, Durham UK Aug 6-9
2024: Program Committee, Cancer Evolution: From Genome to Ecology,. International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer, Hixton, UK May 8-10
2022: Conference Chair, Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Arizona State University, Oct 20-23
2020: Conference Chair, Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Arizona State University, Oct 15-18
2020: Organizer, ASU Interdisciplinary Study of Cooperation Winter School, Arizona State University, Jan 6-10
2019: Organizer, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer Conference, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, UK, July 17-19
2019: Organizer, 2nd ASU Cooperation and Conflict Symposium, ASU, May 2
2018: Conference Chair, Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Arizona State University, Oct 18-21
2018: Scientific Organizer, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School, Cambridge, UK. Wellcome Trust Genome Cancer, June 4-8
2017: Organizer, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer Conference, ASU, Dec 7-10
2017: Co-Organizer, America’s Longest War, Against Cancer, Future Tense & New America, Washington DC, April 27
2017: Organizer, Fitness Interdependence Workshop, Saguaro Lake Ranch, February 17-18
2017: Organizer, 1st ASU Cooperation and Conflict Symposium, ASU, February 16
2016: Scientific Organizer & Lecturer, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School, Cambridge, UK. Wellcome Trust Genome Cancer, July 11-15
2016: Organizer, Risk, Disasters and Need-based transfers workshop, ASU, Jan 15-16
2015: 2015–16 Chair of Membership, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer
2015: Organizer, Kinship, Conflict and Cooperation: Reconceptualizing kinship for the 21st century, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin Germany, Oct 29-31
2015: Organizer, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer Conference, UCSF Dec 10-13
2015: Organizer, Helping and resilience in the face of disaster workshop, ASU Jan 15-16
2013: Organizer, Second Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference, UCSF, June 13-16
2011: Organizer, First Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference, UCSF, June 3-6
2000: Organizer, Cooperation and Multi-level Selection workshop at Artificial Life VII Conference and Editor of Proceedings

Reviewing activities

2024: Ad hoc reviewer for PLOS Computational Biology
2019: Grant Reviewer for European Research Council
2018: Ad hoc reviewer for Perspectives in Psychological Science
2018: Ad hoc reviewer for eLIFE
2018: Ad hoc reviewer for Nature Reviews Cancer
2018: Ad hoc reviewer for Nature Communications
2013: Ad hoc reviewer for Evolutionary Applications
2012: 2012–22 Associate Editor, Journal of Evolutionary Medicine
2012: Guest Editor, Evolutionary Applications special issue, Evolution and Cancer
2010: Ad hoc reviewer for PLOS One
2010: Ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Evolutionary Psychology
2006: Ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Theoretical Biology
2006: Guest Editor for special issue of Adaptive Behavior on the Evolution of Cooperation
2005: Ad hoc reviewer for Current Anthropology
2004: Ad hoc reviewer for Adaptive Behavior
2004: Ad hoc reviewer for Evolution and Human Behavior

Invited workshops

2017: Cooperation Databank small group meeting, Organized by Amsterdam Cooperation Lab, Taormina, Italy.
2017: Living with Resistance Working Group. National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, MD
2015: Kinship, Conflict and Cooperation: Reconceptualizing kinship for the 21st century, Wissenschaftskollege, Berlin Germany (Organizer)
2013: Evolutionary Medicine Education Working Group, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
2013: Catalysis meeting on Evolutionary and Social Science Approaches to Human Cooperation, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
2012: National Academy of Sciences, Chinese-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium
2011: National Academy of Sciences, Sackler Colloquium: Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity
2011: The Theory of Cooperation Workshop, Adelboden, Switzerland
2010: National Academy of Sciences, Sackler Colloquium: In the Light of Evolution V: Cooperation
2009: NSF Microbes to Metazoans: Regulation, Dynamics and Evolution of Social Behavior Workshop, Georgia Institute of Technology
2009: Illinois Biology and Politics Summer Institute, University of Illinois
2008: NSF Debating Science Program, Center for Ethics Workshop, University of Montana
2005: Institute for Humane Studies, Summer Workshop on Human Nature and Social Change, University of Virginia
2001: Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality, Max Planck Institute, Berlin
2000: NIH Complexity in Evolutionary Biology course, U Knoxville
2000: NIH Mathematics and Biological Complexity course, U Knoxville
1999: Economic Science Laboratory, Experimental Economics Graduate Student Workshop U Arizona
1999: American Psychological Association Summer Science Institute, UC Berkeley

Advisory positions

2023: Board member, Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative
2012: Scientific Advisor, Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco
2012: 2012–14 National Evolutionary Medicine Education working group member, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
2012: 2012–14 Executive Board Member, Institute for Drug Resistance

Non-profit service

2020–present: Founder, Producer, Zombified Media (https://www.zombifiedmedia.org)

Articles for broad audiences (post-tenure)

I have been writing articles for broad audiences for Scientific American, Slate, and The Conversation since tenure. This allows me to reach general audiences and also to engage students with accessible writing.

2026 Aktipis, A., Brooks, R. (2026, March 11). A Real Maternal AI Would Want You to Be Nicer - To Everyone. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/a-real-maternal-ai-would-want-you
2026 Aktipis, A. (2026, March 1). We Need AIs That Understand Trust in the Prisoner's Dilemma and War Games. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/we-need-ais-that-understand-trust
2026 Aktipis, A. (2026, February 23). Access Granted. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/access-granted
2026 Aktipis, A. (2026, February 12). Leveraging The Science of Cooperation to Build a Positive Future for Humanity. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/leveraging-the-science-of-cooperation
2026 Aktipis, A. (2026, January 17). Why We Need Benchmarks For AI Cooperation And Friendship. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/why-we-need-benchmarks-for-ai-cooperation
2026 Aktipis, A. (2026, January 1). It Costs a Lot to Win - and Even More to Lose. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/it-costs-a-lot-to-win-and-even-more
2025 Aktipis, A., Nadur, V. (2025, December 23). Today's alcohol would knock our ancestors out cold. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/todays-alcohol-would-knock-our-ancestors
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, December 17). I Played the Prisoner’s Dilemma with AI. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/does-ai-cooperate-in-the-prisoners
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, November 30). Why You Should Have A Beer With Your Pizza. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/why-you-should-have-a-beer-with-your
2025 Aktipis, A., Arthur, P. (2025, November 26). Go Fast, Die Young: Ecological Succession in the World of AI. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/go-fast-die-young-ecological-succession
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, November 23). Stop Trying to Align AI. Start Brewing Better Ecosystems. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/stop-trying-to-align-ai-start-brewing
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, November 9).What Evolution Can Teach Us About Aligning with AI. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/what-cooperation-science-can-teach
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, November 5). I've Been Filling Notebooks for Decades. Here's Why I'm Finally Sharing Them. Not for Peer Review, Substack. https://athenaaktipis.substack.com/p/start-here-opening-my-notebooks
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025). Created the Survival Game for the Exploratorium Museum of Science, SF. https://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/survival-game
2025 Aktipis, A. (2025, February 16). Prepping isn’t just for preppers anymore—it’s time to get a go-bag. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-make-a-prepper-go-bag
2023 Aktipis, A. (2023, October 23). Could Your City Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? Imagining flesh-eating enemies can help you prepare for closer-to-home disasters podcast, Slate/Future Tense, https://slate.com/technology/2023/10/zombie-apocalypse-checklist.html
2023 Aktips, A., Scrivener, C. (2023, October 19). It’s time to prepare for your personal zombie apocalypse, Slate/Future Tense https://slate.com/technology/2023/10/zombie-apocalypse-checklist.html
2023 Aktipis, A., Scrivener, C. (2023). The Evolutionary Reasons We Are Drawn to Horror Movies and Haunted Houses, Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-evolutionary-reasons-we-are-drawn-to-horror-movies-and-haunted-houses1
2023 Aktipis, A. (2023, January 31). Microbes in your food can help or hinder your body’s defenses against cancer – how diet influences the conflict between cell ‘cooperators’ and ‘cheaters’,The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/microbes-in-your-food-can-help-or-hinder-your-bodys-defenses-against-cancer-how-diet-influences-the-conflict-between-cell-cooperators-and-cheaters-195810
2021 Aktipis, A. (2021, October 14). Contagious cancers in animals are a warning to humans. Slate.
2021 Aktipis, A. & Alcock, J. (2021, March 8). A year into the pandemic, the coronavirus is messing with our minds as well as our bodies. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/a-year-into-the-pandemic-the-coronavirus-is-messing-with-our-minds-as-well-as-our-bodies-155213
2021 Aktipis, A. & Tidball, K. (2021, May 11). How Each of Us Can Prepare for the Next Pandemic. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-each-of-us-can-prepare-for-the-next-pandemic/
2021 Aktipis, A. (2021, January 1). How Evolution Helps Us Understand Cancer and Control It. Scientific American.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-evolution-helps-us-understand-cancer-and-control-it
2020 Aktipis, A. (2020, May 28). The Secret She Never Knew essay for Transformations series, part of the LA Review of Books https://www.transformationnarratives.com/blog/2020/05/28/the-secret-she-never-knew
2020 Aktipis, A. & Alcock, J. (2020, June 17). How the coronavirus escapes an evolutionary trade-off that helps keep other pathogens in check. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-the-coronavirus-escapes-an-evolutionary-trade-off-that-helps-keep-other-pathogens-in-check-140706 (more than 200K reads in English and Spanish)

Articles for broad audiences (pre-tenure)

2020 Aktipis, A.(2020) Beautiful monsters: Cancer is part of multicellular life. Now the riotous growth of crested cacti show how humans might adapt to live with it. Aeon https://aeon.co/essays/crested-cacti-show-medicine-the-possibility-of-adapting-to-cancer
2020 Aktipis, A. (2020, April 1). Now Is the Time to Prepare for Future Emergencies: Zombies, pandemic, whatever it might be—use this opportunity to take stock and stock up (responsibly). Slate https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-emergency-preparedness-zombies.html
2019 Aktipis, A., (2019) Is cancer a disease of civilization? This View of Life, April 2. https://thisviewoflife.com/is-cancer-a-disease-of-civilization
2017 Aktipis, A. (2017, April 20). Cancer Has Been With Us Since the Origins of Multicellularity, and It’s Not Going Anywhere. Slate http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/04/cancer_has_been_with_us_since_the_origins_of_multicellularity.html

Public outreach and media coverage (post-tenure)

2025: Interviewed for an article titled How to manage stress during an apocalypse, published by Harvard Gazette, covering a talk I delivered at Harvard.
2025: Interviewed for an article titled Cooperation - The Ancient Technology That Never Goes Absolete, published by The John Templeton Foundation.
2024: Interviewed for an article titled How to Cooperate with Difficult People, published by LinkedIn News.
2024: Interviewed by Jessica DuLong for an article titled Preparing for the apocalypse: Here’s why collaboration is essential, published by CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/health/apocalypse-disasters-teamwork-athena-aktipis-wellness/index.html
2024: Interviewed by Rachel Feltman for an article titled *Cooperation Is the Key to Surviving the** * Apocalypse, published in Scientific American. www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/a-zombie-expert-shares-advice-on-how-to-survive-the-a pocalypse
2024: Interviewed by Matthew LaPlante on the podcast, UnDisciplined. How to survive the end of the world.
2023: Interviewed by Andrew Maynard for The Future of Being Human… Unplugged podcast, Arizona State University, What happens when AI and cooperation science collide? Could research on interspecies cooperation transform how we think about living with advanced artificial intelligence in the future With Mark Daley (University of Western Ontario), December 19 https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu/2023/11/03/what-happens-when-ai-and-cooperation-science-collide
2023: Interviewed by Andrew Maynard for The Future of Being Human… Unplugged podcast, Arizona State University, with Paul Rainey (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology); Exploring the possibilities of developing symbiotic relationships with artificial intelligence in the future, November 20 https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu/2023/10/22/living-with-your-ai-symbiont
2023: Interviewed by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Halloween advice: Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse, October 30 https://thebulletin.org/2023/10/why-you-should-prepare-for-a-zombie-apocalypse
2023: Interviewed by ASU News, Arizona State University, Deadly serious zombie studies; ASU professor explores the positive side of zombie apocalypse narratives, October 27
2023: Zombies Can Teach Us About Surviving the Apocalypse talk, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University, October 23 https://csi.asu.edu/calendar/events/what-zombies-can-teach-us-about-surviving-the-apocalypse-online
2023: Dead Talk: Zombies are Real talk at Haunted Garage Film Festival, October 6 https://hauntedgaragehorrorfilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/dead-talk-athena-atipkis-q-a-64f7ba5f3f26810079e22080#!
2023: PUP Speaks: Athena Aktipis on the evolutionary drivers of cancer, July 17
2023: Conversation on the Liberal Arts: Athena Aktipis, “Education in the Apocalypse: Teaching and Learning in Times of Uncertainty, Westmont College, March 8 https://youtu.be/BdArkUmSoHw
2023: Interviewed by Robert Wiblin and Keiran Harris for 8000 Hours podcast, Athena Aktipis on why cancer is actually one of the fundamental phenomena in our universe https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/athena-aktipis-cancer-cooperation-apocalypse
2022: Interviewed by David Sloan Wilson to appear in his Science of the Noosphere conversation series, in a conversation with Michael Levin entitled Cancer, Cheating and Cell Communication https://humanenergy.io/athena-aktipis-and-michael-levin
2021: Interviewed by Noema, a magazine published by The Berggruen Institute, about my work on cooperation and generosity https://www.noemamag.com/the-other-invisible-hand
2021: Interviewed by Forbes Magazine about my work on the evolution of concealed ovulation https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccacoffey/2021/01/29/estrus-and-the-evolution-of-mean-girl-behavior-like-slut-shaming-among-women/?sh=2b79121c606b
2020: Interviewed by Popular Science Magazine about my work on cooperation and human generosity https://www.popsci.com/story/science/bigq-caring-about-sharing
2020: Launched The Cooperation Science Network, a new interdisciplinary, multi-institution network that brings together cooperation scholars from across the disciplines https://www.cooperationscience.org
2020: Launched Cooperation in the Apocalypse, a new interdisciplinary, multi-institution team to study how COVID19 and other crises are impacting cooperation https://www.cooperationintheapocalypse.org
2020: Launched Channel Zed, a new interdisciplinary endeavor featuring news, entertainment, and lifestyle programming for the Zombie Apocalypse https://www.channelzed.org
2020: Interviewed by the Smithsonian about the newly launched book, The Cheating Cell https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/cheating-cell-cancer-athena-aktipis-180974794
2020: Interviewed by Wall Street Journal about new approaches to cancer research and treatment https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-approach-to-cancer-treatment-draws-lessons-from-darwin-11578414469
2014: 2014–20 Scientific Advisor to Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco, developing exhibits about risk pooling and need-based transfer systems to teach public about human cooperation as part of ‘The Science of Sharing’ exhibition; also teaching the public about social psychology and cooperation theory research as an advisor for the new exhibit ‘Museum Labs 2.0.’

Public outreach and media coverage (pre-tenure)

2019: Interviewed by Forbes about my work on Kombucha https://www.forbes.com/sites/linhanhcat/2019/09/16/kombucha-model-ecosystem/?ref=altdnt
2019: Interviewed by Arizona PBS about the Zombified podcast https://www.pbs.org/video/06-12-2019-innovation-zone-zombified-podcast-catalyst-pgeirx
2019: Created a new podcast, Zombified – launched on June 11th: https://www.zombified.org
2019: Interviewed by Phoenix Magazine about the crested cactus garden: https://www.phoenixmag.com/2019/03/15/the-cactus-cure
2019: Interviewed about The Human Generosity Project for an article published in Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-a-more-generous-society-possible
2018: Interviewed by NPR Arizona about the Cactus Garden “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” http://kjzz.org/content/736335/discovering-new-cancer-treatments-studying-cacti
2018: Interviewed by Arizona PBS for the Catalyst series about the Human Generosity Project https://azpbs.org/horizon/2018/05/catalyst-explores-how-generosity-can-be-scientifically-measured
2018: Interviewed by AzFamily News about the 1st Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting (Oct 18-21, 2018, ASU) https://www.azfamily.com/news/asu-hosts-first-ever-zombie-apocalypse-medicine-meeting/article_0abe3be6-d352-11e8-b6ab-a394172f6060.html
2018: Interviewed by the State Press about the collaboration with London artists Boredom Research http://www.statepress.com/article/2018/09/spscience-british-artists-are-using-asu-cancer-research-to-create-visualizations
2018: Interviewed by AzFamily News about romance scams https://www.azfamily.com/video/video-mesa-woman-loses-k-in-romance-scam/video_937001f0-0dbf-5653-a9f0-8d652a5d13f1.html
2018: Spoke to Spirit of the Senses, an art and culture salon in the Phoenix area on the topic “Who Are We Really?”
2018: Spoke at “Sip of Science”, series of talks organized by the ASU Biodesign Institute,“Zombies are Real: Are microbes controlling my mind?” https://biodesign.asu.edu/news/microbes-may-be-controlling-your-mind-says-asu-biodesign-researcher-final-sip-science-talk
2018: Interviewed by Ricardo Lopes, a YouTube science host, about the Cooperation and Conflict, From Cells to Human Societies: https://youtu.be/lVX3WE6H4NA
2018: Interviewed by The Harvard Gazette regarding public lecture at Harvard Museums, for article titled “Before cancer kills, it cheats” https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-talk-envisions-path-to-containing-cancer/
2017: Interviewed by Channel 3 about cooperation and cheating for a story about a “Romance Scam”
2017: Spoke to Spirit of the Senses, an art and culture salon in the Phoenix area on the topic “The Microbiome and Psychology”
2017: Wrote “Why Cancer Isn’t Going Anywhere” for Slate Magazine http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/04/cancer_has_been_with_us_since_the_origins_of_multicellularity.html
2017: Spoke on the Storycraft Podcast on “Cancer from an evolutionary angle”
2016: Interviewed by the New Scientist about the Osotua, Maasai’s generosity tradition and practice
2016: Interviewed by The Daily Dot about the implications of human sharing behavior for Uber, Lyft and the sharing economy http://www.dailydot.com/debug/uber-lyft-social-norms/
2016: Spoke at first TedX event Arizona State University on the topic “Do you believe in Generosity?” Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOO0rD7QvI
2016: Panelist in forum at Franciscan Renewal Center on the topic “The Source of Personal Power: Merely Human and Intrinsically Divine,” spoke about my work on the power to leave when others don’t cooperate, the power to help others in need, and the power to ask for help when in need.
2016: Created and ran “Game of Clones” event at ASU Emerge Festival to engage public in cancer as a break down of cellular societies. https://biodesign.asu.edu/news/game-clones-cancer-wars-emerge-2016
2016: Interviewed by The Evolution Institute on the topic “ Cancer and the transformation of life”. https://evolution-institute.org/the-evolutionary-ecology-of-cancer-an-interview-with-athena-aktipis/
2015: Spoke at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco about The Science of Sharing: https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/science-sharing-forum-athena-aktipis
2015: Spoke to Spirit of the Senses, an art and culture salon in the Phoenix area on the topic “The Human Generosity Project”
2015: Interviewed by New York Times and other news outlets after publication of “Cancer across life: Cooperation and cheating in multicellularity”. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/science/cellular-cheaters-give-rise-to-cancer.html?_r=0
2015: The Human Generosity Project covered in High Country News story “Good neighbors”. https://www.hcn.org/issues/47.21/why-being-a-good-neighbor-is-a-good-idea
2015: Spoke to Spirit of the Senses, an arts and culture salon in the Phoenix area on the topic “Cancer as cheating in multicellular cooperation.”
2015: Interviewed by New York Times, National Geographic, and other news outlets after publication of “Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb”
2015: Spoke on the Here We Are Podcast about “Cancer + Game Theory”
2015: Interviewed by The Naked Scientists for article titled “Cancer Across Kingdom” https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/athena-aktipis-cancer-across-kingdom
2014: Interviewed for National Public Radio, New York Times, ABC News and many other media outlets after publication of “Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms.” http://blog.bigpicturescience.org/2014/10/big-picture-science-whos-controlling-whom-athena-aktipis-g ut-decisions/
2014: Public lecture at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin (Wissenschaftkolleg) “Cancer Evolution” on April 2: http://www.wiko-berlin.de/wikothek/lectures-on-film/2014-c-athena-aktipis-andrew-read/
2014: Interviewed for Newsweek article about evolutionary approaches to cancer treatment: http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/28/war-against-cancer-alternative-cancer-treatments.html
2014: Interviewed on National Public Radio about cooperation in cancer and among humans
2014: Interviewed by University of California San Francisco for article “Do Gut Bacteria Rule Our Minds”. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/08/116526/do-gut-bacteria-rule-our-minds

Classroom instruction

2020–present: Associate Professor, Psychology Department, Arizona State University Cooperation (Spring 2024, 2025) Science of Zombification (Spring 2023, 2024, 2025) Communication for Scientists (Fall 2022) Cooperation and Social Behavior (Spring 2021)
2020: Organizer and Faculty, Interdisciplinary Cooperation Winter School at Arizona State University (http://www.aktipislab.org/winter-school)
2016: Faculty, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School at Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge UK
2016: Faculty, Interdisciplinary College, Transitions and Transformations in Cognition, Biology, and Interactive Systems, Guenne Germany
2015–2020: Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Arizona State University Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (Spring 2016) Cooperation and Social Behavior (Fall 2016) Intro Evolutionary Psychology (Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019) Microbiome and Social Behavior (Spring 2018) Communication for Scientists (Spring 2020)
2012: Faculty, Evolutionary Medicine Summer School at Mt. Desert Island Biological Lab Lecturer on evolution and cancer, discussion leader
2010: Adjunct Professor, U Penn Dept. of Psychology Prosocial Behavior course, teaching and course preparation for new course
2005: Teaching Assistant, U Penn Dept. of Psychology Introduction to Psychology course, teaching, exam design and grading
2005: 2005–06 Instructor, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, U Penn Undergraduate Summer Workshop in Cognitive Science, teaching
2004: Teaching Assistant, U Penn Dept. of Psychology Animal Behavior course, teaching, exam design and grading
2002–2003: Instructor and Course Developer, Portland State U, Systems Science Department Agent-based simulation course, teaching and course prep. for graduate level course
1999–2003: Intern, Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (AWSEM) Teaching and lab design for weekly club meeting of grade school, middle school and high school students. The AWSEM program is a vertical mentoring system designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in the sciences.
1999: Tutor, Score Prep Tutor for Score Prep, company specializing in preparing high school juniors for the SAT.
1998: Educator, Illinois Energy Education Development (ILEED) Environmental educator at Dupage County recycling center.

Current and past graduate students

2024–present Bernardo Seixas, Ph. D. Student (1st year), Aktipis is co-mentor with Dr. Steven Neuberg
2022–present Ona Wang, Ph.D. Student (3rd year, SHESC), Aktipis is co-mentor with Dr. Polly Wiessner
2021–present Gissel Marquez Alcaraz, Ph.D. Student (4th year, SOLS), Aktipis is co-mentor with Dr. Carlo Maley
2017–2023 Diego Guevara Beltran, Ph.D; Beltran is now an incoming Assistant Professor at University of Arizona
2016–2022 Jessica Ayers, Ph.D.; Ayers is now an Assistant Professor at Boise State University
2015–2020 Andres Munoz, M.A. Munoz is currently working in cybersecurity

Chair or co-chair of graduate student dissertation committee

2023: Diego Guevara Beltran Helping in Times of Need Increases Dispositional Empathic Concern over Time
2022: Jessica Ayers Does Genetic Conflict Contribute to Pregnancy Complications and Postpartum Health and Behavior?
: In progress Gissel Marquez Alcaraz, Evolution in the Face of Perturbation [tentative title]

In progress Ona Wang

2024: Gissel Marquez Alcaraz, Evolutionary Management Through Perturbation
2023: Diego Guevara Beltran, When Does Adversity Bring People Together, and Might We Need a Little More?
2022: Jessica Ayers, How Genetic Conflict Influences Humans Psychology and Behavior

Chair or co-chair of graduate student masters thesis

2021–present: Gissel Marquez Alcaraz, Evolutionary Management Through Perturbation
2017–2023: Diego Guevara Beltran, When Does Adversity Bring People Together, and Might We Need a Little More?
2016–2022: Jessica Ayers, How Genetic Conflict Influences Humans Psychology and Behavior
2015–2020: Andres Munoz, Cognitive Mechanisms for Detecting Greediness and Stinginess Are Not Attuned to Resource Necessity and Unpredictability

Undergraduate PSY 499 thesis students

2020–21 Dylan Stephenson, How does affect influence asking for help?
2020–21 Sakshi Chandak, Sexual harassment in organizations
2019–24 Zoe Gould-Thompson, Blinded by Love: Why do Women Fall for Manipulative Men?
2019–20 Manasa Swaminathan, Theory of mind influences friendship quality
2019–20 Cameron Vardaman, Online vs. offline aggression: anger, reputation, and anonymity
2018–19 William Middleton, Prosociality, Attraction, and Likelihood of Romantic Encounter
2018–19 Maya Schatzki-Lumpkin, Morbid Curiosity, an Evolutionary Perspective
2018–19 Nicole Hudson, Resource scarcity’s influence on competition

Undergraduate Barrett honors students

2020: 2020–22 Ndeye Yague, Self-Esteem, Explicit/Implicit Messaging, and Reactance
2020: 2020–21 Madison Harmon, Intimate Partner Violence Comparison between Heterosexuals, Lesbians, and Gay
2020: 2020–21 Kali Draper, Tabletop Roleplaying Games and Motivation to Empathize
2019: 2019–21 Skyelyn Riggs-Davis, Social welfare and cheater detection strategies
2019: 2019–20 Danielle Patterson, Reputation, self-deception, and life history strategy
2019: 2019–20 Lauren Highstrete, Attitudes towards asking for help: effects of perceived social status on help-seeking behaviors
2017: 2017–18 Aaron Tavarez, The Relationship Between Group Member Interdependence and Group Creative Processes
2016: 2016–17 Alyssa Reyes, Terrorism and Interdependence: A Study of Altruism
2015: 2015–16 Mitchell (Sophia) Dunkelberger, Responses to Cheating in Need-Based Transfers: An Agent Based Model

Undergraduate Energize students

2022–23 Andre Ramirez
2020–20 Brandon Hunter
2020–20 Laura Silva Soto
Energize Students program is dedicated to helping at-risk students succeed.

Undergraduate students, Cooperation Scholars Program

Between 2022 and 2023, I have developed and ran the Cooperation Scholars Program, a mentoring program for undergraduate students which served 20 students and provided them with research experience and career mentoring opportunities.
2022–23 Lailah Smith
2022–23 Karen Nguyen
2022–23 Galilea Martinez Mota
2022–23 Gallai Sahak
2022–23 Shravya Aragam
2022–23 Guadalupe Bustamante
2022–23 Andre Ramirez
2022–23 Zoe Gould-Thompson
2022–23 Bryan Yavari
2022–23 Emma Oyen
2022–23 Esther Low
2022–23 Lauren Sands
2022–23 Kristal Jensen
2022–23 Alaina Wong
2022–23 Sabrina Seifert
2022–23 Mimi Fina
2022–23 MJ Sarraf
2022–23 David Lukacik
2022–23 Rocio Nicole Lopez

Undergraduate students, Z-Team

2022–23 Kristal Jensen
2022–23 Vicky Ticay
2022–23 Danielle Pais
2022–23 Brandon Vega
2022–23 Ashley Gomez
2022–23 Mengen Dang
2022–23 Bretton Barnhill
Between 2020 and 2023, I have developed and ran the Z-Team, a mentoring program for undergraduate students which served 24 students and provided them with research and science communication experience, and career mentoring opportunities.
2020–22 Isabel Glass
2020–22 Anna Tesch
2020–22 Skye Riggs-Davis
2020–22 Wid Alsabah
2020–22 Kali Draper
2020–22 Danielle Patterson
2020–22 Megan Nelson
2020–22 Brianna Chen
2020–22 Victoria Dong
2020–22 Cierra Flood
2020–22 Michelle Jang
2020–22 Alexandra Johnson
2020–22 Mary Haddad
2020–21 Dua Zaheer
2020–21 Matthew Groholski
2020–21 Gibson Yost
2020–21 Emily Engel

Post docs

2020–2022: Andrew van Horn, Postdoctoral Researcher
2019–2022: Stefania Kapsetaki, Postdoctoral Researcher
2016: 2016–18 Helen Wasielewski, Postdoctoral Researcher
2016: 2016–17 Marco Campenni, Postdoctoral Researcher
2016: 2016–17 Daniel Sznycer, Postdoctoral Researcher now Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma
2016: 2016–17 Angelo Fortunato, Postdoctoral Researcher now Assistant Research Professor, Arizona State University
2016: Hillary Lenfesty, Postdoctoral Researcher
2013: 2013–17 Amy Boddy, Postdoctoral Researcher now Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Interns and volunteers

2022–2023: Arek Rein Jungwirth, Volunteer and Research Assistant
2019: 2019–20 Savanna Soldevere, Research Assistant
2018–2021: Gissel Marquez Alcaraz, Volunteer and Research Assistant
2017–2019: Shrinath Narayanan, Volunteer and Research Assistant now a graduate student in the Erasmus program
2017: Scott Claessens, Intern on the Human Generosity Project now a postdoc, University of Auckland
2017: Christine Campbell, Intern on the Microbiome and Human Behavior Project
2016: 2016–17 Jennifer Inzunza, Research Assistant
2016: 2016–18 Alex May, Research Assistant
2016: Olmo van den Akker, Intern on the Human Generosity Project graduate student at the University of Amsterdam
2015: 2015–16 James Medina, Research Assistant graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis

Human Generosity and Mutual Aid Projects trainees

In addition to the students/postdocs that I mentor directly, I also Co-Direct the Human Generosity Project with Lee Cronk, an Anthropologist at Rutgers University and therefore I co-mentor(ed) several of Cronk’s students, listed below.

2020–2022: Andrew van Horn, Mutual Aid in the US Postdoctoral Fellow at Rutgers University
2017: Anna Flaherty, HGP Undergraduate at Rutgers University
2016–2017: Matthew Gervais, HGP Postdoctoral Fellow at Rutgers University
2016–2018: Cathryn Townsend, HGP Postdoctoral Fellow at Rutgers University
2016: Dennis Sonkoi, HGP Graduate Student at Rutgers University
2016–2017: Brighid McCarthy, HGP Graduate Student at Rutgers University
2016–2018: Andy Chang, HGP Undergraduate at Rutgers University
2014: Thomas Conte, HGP Graduate Student at Rutgers University
2010–2017: Padmini Iyer, HGP Graduate Student at Rutgers University
2008–2014: Rolando de Aguiar, HGP Graduate Student at Rutgers University

Highlighted presentations (post-tenure)

In this section, I highlight international and national invited presentations of particular note. A full list of presentations can be found at the end of this document.

2026: 2026 University of Oxford, Biological Relativity, Evolution for the 21st Century: Future Directions in Evolution Research, In and Outside of Academia, 7-9 January Cooperation from Cells to Societies
2025: 2025 Harvard Science Center, March 27th The Apocalypse Roadshow: An alternative book tour for A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving our Wild Times
2024: 2024 Washington University in St. Louis. Program in Public Scholarship, October 16 Translating Scientific Research for General Audiences
2024: 2024 University of New South Wales. Australian National Science Week, August 14 Book Talk: A Field Guide to the Apocalypse, Athena Aktipis and musical guest Ryan Biter
2023: 2023 The Royal Swedish Academy Of Sciences, Stockholm, November 9 Hope in the Anthropocene: It is not too late! Athena Aktipis in discussion with Rebecca Solnit
2023: 2023 Margo Wilson Memorial Lecture, Hamilton, Ontario,.October 9 Managing Risk through Cooperation: What small-scale societies and other species can teach us about how to manage risk collectively.
2023: 2023 J. James Woods Lecture Series, Butler University, April 26 The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer
2022: 2022 The Oxford Literary Festival, Oxford, UK, April 3 The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps us Understand and Treat Cancer.
2022: 2022 One Humanity Writing Collective, a collaboration between Syllble Studios and The Innovation Station: Creative Industry Lab at the U.S. Department of State, March 16 Sharing resources and sharing risk: Lessons from small-scale societies about how to manage catastrophic risk and survive the apocalypse
2020: 2020 The VI St. Petersburg International Oncology Forum “White Nights 2020”, St. Petersburg, Russia, and online, June 25-28 Cancer as cellular cheating: The evolutionary roots of cancer and the future of cancer control
2020: 2020 Duke University, TriCEM, May 26 Evolution in the flesh: How cancer cells evolve to cheat the foundations of multicellular cooperation and what this means for cancer treatment and prevention

Highlighted presentations (pre-tenure)

2019: 2019 Invited Plenary Address, Templeton World Charity Foundation; Character, Social Connections and Flourishing in the 21st Century, The Bahamas, December 3-6 Cooperation in the Apocalypse: The science of human nature in times of disaster
2019: 2019 Keynote Address, Wellcome Trust Genome Center, Cancer Evolution and Ecology Conference, July 19 Transmissible cancer and the evolution of cellular cheating
2019: 2019 Invited talk, University of California Santa Barbara, May 17 Cooperation in the apocalypse: The science of human generosity
2019: 2019 Invited talk, Cornell University, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, April 23 Do need-based transfer systems offer a viable alternative to market-based systems?
2019: 2019 Invited talk, Harvard University, Human Evolutionary Biology Department, April 17 Is cooperation through need-based transfers part of the human behavioral repertoire? Managing risk, making friends and monitoring cheating in an uncertain world
2019: 2019 Invited talk, Harvard University, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, April 16 Reciprocity and generosity: Two sides of the same coin or entirely different currencies?
2019: 2019 Invited talk, Georgia Institute of Technology, Integrated Cancer Research Center, April 11 Cancer suppression and the evolution of multicellularity
2019: 2019 Invited talk, American Association for Cancer Research, Atlanta, April 1 Cooperation, Multicellularity and Cancer: How cancer cells evolve to cheat and cooperate in the multicellular milieu
2019: 2019 Invited talk, University of British Columbia, BIG Research Day, Vancouver, March 14 Cooperation incarnate: How regulation and cheater detection stabilize cooperation from cells to human societies
2019: 2019 Invited talk, University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, March 15 How generosity, cheating, and exploitation shape our world, from human social groups to cellular societies
2018: 2018 Invited talk, Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, May 1 Cellular cheating in cancer: Evolutionary and ecological dynamics in cancer initiation and progression
2018: 2018 Invited talk, Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, April 20 Cooperation incarnate: From human sharing to the evolution of multicellularity
2018: 2018 Invited talk, Harvard Museums, Boston, MA, April 4 Why Cancer is Everywhere
2017: 2017 Invited talk, Special Seminar Series on Evolutionary Medicine, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plon, Germany, September 8 Cooperation theory for cancer biology: Is cancer a cellular cheater?
2017: 2017 Invited talk, America’s Longest War, Against Cancer, Future Tense & New America, Washington DC, April 27 Changing The Way We Think About Beating Cancer
2017: 2017 Invited talk, Evolution and Restraint of Malicious Behavior in Complex Systems Santa Fe Institute, February 6-7 How do large scale systems solve the problem of cheating?
2016: 2016 Plenary address, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Vancouver BC, July 1 Cooperation from Cells to Societies
2016: 2016 TedX, Arizona State University Do you believe in Generosity?
2015: 2015 Invited talk, Mayo Clinic Individualizing Medicine Conference, Rochester MN, Sept 21 Cooperation, conflict and the promise of comparative oncology
2015: *2015 Invited talk, The Science of Sharing Forum, Exploratorium Science Museum, SF, CA, June 6 Cooperation in multicellularity and other social systems
2015: 2015 Invited talk, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Chicago IL, May 29 Evolutionary approaches to cancer treatment
2015: 2015 Invited talk, Young Presidents Organization Global Digital Forum, San Francisco, May 6 The origins and future of human sharing
2014: 2014 Invited talk, Harvard University, Human Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, Nov 13 Cooperation and sharing across systems: From human sharing to multicellularity
2014: 2014 Public lecture, Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftkolleg), Berlin, Germany, Feb 4 Cancer Evolution
2014: 2014 Invited talk, Symposium on Evolution and Cancer, Lisbon, Portugal, June 24 Cancer and the evolution of somatic cheating
2013: 2013 Invited talk, Striking a moving target: Challenges and chances for immunotherapy of cancer, Munich, Germany, May 26-27 Evolution of metastasis and immune evasion
2013: 2013 Invited talk, Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives on Cancer conference, Roscoff, France, Challenges and opportunities in the evolution and ecology of cancer, Nov 3
2013: 2013 Invited talk, American Association for Cancer Research, DC, April 10 Evolution under resource limitation: Models of motility and metastasis
2013: 2013 Chapman Keynote Research Lecture, Kansas University Medical Center, April 5 Fundamental questions in cancer evolution: Knowns and unknowns
2013: 2013 Grand Rounds, Evolutionary Medicine Month, UCLA, February 6 Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology
2012: 2012 National Academy of Science Chinese-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, Oct 11-14. Solving the paradox of breast cancer susceptibility: Evolution and estrogen receptors
2011: 2011 Invited talk, Evolution and Extravagant Altruism Speaker Series, U Mich., ISR, Jan 9 Beyond reciprocity and kin selection: Is it time to rethink the foundations of cooperation theory?
2011: 2011 Lecturer, The Theory of Cooperation Workshop, August 11-13, Adelboden, Switzerland. The evolution of cooperation across domains: Simple rules and complex social organization
2010: 2010 Invited talk, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Evolutionary Preconference, Las Vegas, Jan 28. Walk the Walk: Models of mobility and the evolution of cooperation
2009: 2009 Plenary address, European Social Simulation Association Conference, U Surry, Sept 14-18 The simplicity of cooperation: Conditional movement rules promote cooperation
2009: 2009 Invited talk, UCLA Center for Behavior Evolution and Culture, May 27. Walking Away from the Haystack: Conditional movement and the evolution of cooperation
2009: 2009 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, April 20. Social norms and simple rules: Agent-based models of cooperation
2008: 2008 Invited talk, Principles of Repurposing Workshop, Santa Fe Institute, July 14-16. Decentralized redesign: Insights from principles in the evolution of cooperation

International (post-tenure)

2026: 2026 University of Oxford, Biological Relativity, Evolution for the 21st Century: Future Directions in Evolution Research, In and Outside of Academia, 7-9 January
2024: 2024 Turin Book Fair, Turin, Italy, May 11
2023: 2023 Invited talk:, Hope in the Anthropocene, The Royal Swedish Academy Of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden It is not too late! A discussion with Author Rebecca Solnit, November 9
2023: 2023 Invited talk: Margo Wilson Memorial Lecture, Hamilton, Ontario,.October 9 Managing Risk through Cooperation: What small-scale societies and other species can teach us about how to manage risk collectively, November 9
2023: 2023 Invited talk:, Ergodicity Economics, London Mathematical Laboratory, January 13 “It all comes out in the wash”: Risk pooling and need-based transfers in The Human Generosity Project
2023: 2023 Invited talk-virtual:Federal University of Parana, Reconstructing the World After the Zombie Apocalypse, Curitiba,Paraná, Brazil October 31,2022
: ✝ represents a student or post-doc contributor
: Invited talk: Cooperation from Cells to Societies
: Invited talk: The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps us Understand and Treat Cancer

Cognitive Science Society Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, July 27-30

2022: 2022 The Oxford Literary Festival, Oxford, UK, April 3
2020: 2020 The VI St. Petersburg International Oncology Forum “White Nights 2020”, St. Petersburg, Russia, and online, June 25-28
: Invited Symposium Talk: The Science of Surviving (and Thriving) In the Apocalypse
: Invited Talk: The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps us Understand and Treat Cancer
: Invited Talk: Cancer as cellular cheating: The evolutionary roots of cancer and the future of cancer control

International (pre-tenure)

2019: 2019 Templeton World Charity Foundation; Character, Social Connections and Flourishing in the 21st Century, Nassau, The Bahamas, December 3-6 Invited Plenary Address: Cooperation in the Apocalypse: The science of human nature in times of disaster
2019: 2019 International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer, Hinxton, UK, July 17-19
2019: 2019 6th Aegean Arts Festival, July 8, Crete, Greece
2019: 2019 University of British Columbia, BIG Research Day, March 14, Vancouver, Canada
2019: 2019 University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, March 15, Vancouver, Canada Invited Talk How generosity, cheating, and exploitation shape our world, from human social groups to cellular societies
2018: 2018 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, July 4-7, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018: 2018 2nd Javea Workshop on Social and Evolutionary Psychology, June 28 – July 1, Javea, Spain
2017: 2017 Congress of European Society of Evolutionary Biology, August 20 – 25, Groningen, Netherlands
2017: 2017 Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution, July 10 – 12, London, UK
2017: 2017 17th International Conference on Social Dilemmas, June 20 – 23, Taormina, Italy
2016: 2016 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, June 29–July 2, Vancouver, Canada Plenary address: Cooperation from cells to societies
2016: 2016 Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School, Lecturer, July 11-19, Cambridge, UK
2016: 2016 Interdisciplinary College, Faculty, Guenne Germany, March 4-11, Gunne, Germany
2015: 2015 10th Gottinger Freilandtage, German Primate Center, Gottingen, Germany
2014: 2014 Champalimaud Foundation, Symposium on Evolution and Cancer, June 24, Lisbon, Portugal
2014: 2014 Striking a moving target: Challenges and chances for immunotherapy of cancer, May 26-27, Munich, Germany
2013: 2013 Evolutionary and Ecology Perspectives in Cancer, Nov 3, Roscoff, France
2013: 2013 Institute for Cancer Research, June 25, UK
2011: 2011 The Theory of Cooperation workshop, August 11-13, Adelboden, Switzerland
2011: 2011 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, June 29-July 4, Montpellier, France
2009: 2009 Evolution and Medicine Symposium, University of Lausanne, Nov 5-6, Switzerland
2009: 2009 Evolution, Cooperation and Rationality Conference, Sept 18-20, University of Bristol
2009: 2009 European Social Simulation Association Conference, Sept 14-18, University of Surry Plenary address: The simplicity of cooperation: Conditional movement rules promote cooperation
2004: 2004 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, July 21-24, Berlin, Germany
2001: 2001 Max Planck Institute for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality, Berlin, Germany, August
2001: 2001 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University College London, June 14-17, England
: Keynote: Transmissible cancers and the evolution of cellular cheating: How multicellularity evolved to protect cellular cooperation and limit invasion
: Invited Talk: Cooperation in the Apocalypse: The science of human generosity
: Invited Talk: Cooperation incarnate: How regulation and cheater detection stabilize cooperation from cells to human societies
: Talk: Sociality and the microbiome: How human social interactions influence the evolution of microbial fitness effects on hosts
: Talk: Reconceptualizing kinship in terms of fitness interdependence (Authors: Cronk, L., Steklis, D., Steklis, N., van den Akker, O., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Influence of culture on sharing behavior among “selfish” Ik former hunter-gatherers (Authors: Townsend, C., Cronk., L., & Aktipis., A.)
: Poster: Are there rules in friendship? (Authors: ✝Ayers, J., Krems, J.A., Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: What threatens our friendships? Cause(s) of friendship jealousy (Authors: Krems, J.A., Williams, K., Kenrick, D., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Sociality Fitness interdependence and the study of human cooperation: Bridging evolutionary and social approaches through computational modeling, fieldwork and empirical psychology
: Poster: Coevolution of cancer defences and body size: can birds beat cancer? (Authors: ✝Erten, E.Y., Sprouffske, K., Aktipis, A., Kokko, H.)
: Poster: Cell-level life history trade-offs under cancer risk (Authors: ✝Erten, E.Y., Aktipis, A., Maley, C., Kokko, H.)
: Talk: The challenges of cheater detection in large scale cooperation: From Human societies to the evolution of multicellularity and cancer
: Talk: Ecologies of risk-pooling: an agent-based modeling approach to model social behavior in a volatile environment (Authors: ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: Cooperation and conflict beyond the womb (Post doc award competition: ✝Amy Boddy)
: Poster: Evolutionary dynamics of the human oral microbiome (Authors: ✝Wasielewski, H., Maldonado, J., Alcock, J., Mandel, N., Krajmalnik-Brown, R., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Spatial-temporal constraints on risk-pooling strategies in volatile environments: An agent-based model of foraging behavior (Authors: ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Invited Talk: Cancer and the evolution of somatic cheating
: Invited Talk: Evolution of metastasis and immune evasion
: Invited Talk: Challenges and opportunities for evolutionary and ecological approaches to cancer
: Invited Talk: Applying ecology to cancer
: Invited Talk: The evolution of cooperation across domains: How simple rules give rise to complex social organization
: Talk: Breast cancer from a life history perspective
: Poster: Is self-interest the state of the world? The ability to Walk Away promotes the evolution
: of cooperation
: Talk: When the going gets tough, the nice get going: Contingent movement and the evolution of cooperation in groups.
: Poster: Future discounting and vividness
: Poster: Future discounting and prosocial decision-making

National (post-tenure)

2023: 2023 Global Futures Lab, ASU, Now is the Time Sandbox, February 8-9 Invited talk Design Principles for Pooling Risk
2023: 2023 University of New Mexico, Department of Psychology, March 24
2023: 2023 Paleopathology Association, February 27 Invited talk, Cancer as an Ancient Disease - Past and Implications for the Present
2023: 2023 Darwin Day, Lone Star College-Kingwood, February 10
2023: 2023 Global Futures Lab, ASU, December 19
2023: 2023 Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, ASU October 29
2023: 2023 Global Futures Lab, ASU, November 21
2023: Invited talk: The Future of Being Human, Living with your AI Symbiont, A discussion with Andrew Maynard, ASU and Paul Rainey, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 2023
: ✝ represents a student or post-doc contributor
: Invited talk: Cooperation in times of crisis: Lessons from small-scale societies about how to manage catastrophic risk and survive the apocalypse
: Invited talk: The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer
: Invited talk:The Future of Being Human, What happens when AI and cooperation science collide, discussion with Andrew Maynard, ASU and Mark Daley, University of Western Ontario
: Invited talk: Visions of Scale: Managing risk through cooperation at scale

Princeton University Press July 17

2023: 2023 University of New Mexico, March 24
2023: 2023 NNCI Winter School, ASU, January 9,
2022: 2022 One Humanity Writing Collective, a collaboration between Syllble Studios and The Innovation Station: Creative Industry Lab at the U.S. Department of State, March 16 Invited virtual talk: Sharing resources and sharing risk: Lessons from small-scale societies about how to manage catastrophic risk and survive the apocalypse
2021: 2021 Evolutionary Studies Program, Binghamton University, March 15 Invited virtual talk: The Cheating Cell:How cancer evolves inside us and how we can keep it under control
2020: 2020 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at ASU, September 21 Invited virtual talk: Why Cancer Is Everywhere
2020: 2020 Institute for Mental Health Research, September 9 Invited virtual talk: Cooperation in the Time of COVID: Implications for Mental Health
2020: 2020 ASU SFIS Public Interest Technologies (PIT) Colloquium, August 26 Invited virtual talk: Cooperation in the Time of COVID
2020: 2020 Duke University, TriCEM, May 26
2020: 2020 North Carolina State University, July 2
: Invited talk: Writing to Influence: What Academia Offers in Times of Crisis
: Invited talk: Cooperation in times of crisis: Lessons from small-scale societies about how to manage catastrophic risk and survive the apocalypse
: Invited talk: Cooperation and risk management
: Invited virtual talk: Evolution in the flesh: How cancer cells evolve to cheat the foundations of multicellular cooperation and what this means for cancer treatment and prevention
: Invited virtual talk: Fermenting for the Zombie Apocalypse

National (pre-tenure)

2019: 2019 Texas Christian University, September 6
2017: Alcock, J., Krajmalnik‐Brown, R., Maldonado, J., Aktipis, A., Han, C. S. (2017). The Microbial Organ is Unlike any Other – Evidence for Conflict in Human-Microbiome Co-Evolution. The 86th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, New Orleans.
: Invited talk: Cooperation across systems: From human sharing to cellular societies

Baylor University, September 4

2019: 2019 The University of Texas at Austin, September 3
2019: 2019 Arizona Wellbeing Commons Conference, Tempe, AZ, September 2
2019: 2019 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boston, MA, May 29 – June 1
2019: 2019 University of California Santa Barbara, May 17
: Invited talk: The future of cancer
: Invited talk: Cooperation in the apocalypse: A survival guide
: Talk and Moderator: The future of cancer is here
: Talk: “A solidarity-type world”: Mutual aid among ranchers in the American Southwest (Authors: Cronk, L., ✝Guevara Beltran, D., ✝Mercado, D., Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Are cravings, aversions and nausea/vomiting associated with pregnancy complications? Investigating the role of maternal-fetal conflict in maternal eating behavior and pregnancy complications (Authors: ✝Ayers, J., Boddy, A., Whisner, C., A.
: Talk: Resource accessibility and intrasexual competition: Does a lack of direct access to resources drive covert strategies? (Authors: ✝Husdon, N., ✝Ayers, J., Aktipis, A.)
: Invited talk: Cooperation in the Apocalypse: The Science of Human Generosity

Rightful Place of Science Conference, ASU, May 10

2019: 2019 Cornell University, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, April 23
2019: 2019 Harvard University, Human Evolutionary Biology Department, April 17
2019: 2019 Harvard University, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, April 16
2019: 2019 Georgia Institute of Technology, Integrated Cancer Research Center, April 11
2019: 2019 American Association for Cancer Research, Atlanta, April 1
2019: 2019 Interdisciplinary Cooperation Working Group, Rutgers University
2019: 2019 Beyond Center, Arizona State University, April 29
2019: 2019 CIVV-oholics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, February 13
2019: 2019 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Portland, OR, February 7-9
2018: 2018. Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting, Tempe, Arizona State University, October 18-21
2018: 2018 International Society for Evolution, Medicine & Public Health Conference, Park City, Utah, August 1-4, 2018
2018: 2018 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, Atlanta, GA, March 1-3
2018: 2018 Farm to Table Working Group, North Carolina State University, Feb 22
2018: 2018 KombuchaKon, Long Beach, CA, February 10 -11
2017: 2017 International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer, Tempe, AZ, Dec 7-10
2017: 2017 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boise, ID, May 31 – June 3
2017: 2017 DoD Microbiome Symposium, Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, April 6-7
2017: 2017 SPSP Evolutionary Psychology Preconference, San Antonio, TX, January 19-21
2016: 2016 International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, Durham NC, June 22-25
2016: 2016 TedX, Arizona State University
2016: 2016 Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, ASU, March 14, 2016
: Invited talk: Making the apocalypse fun again: A how-to guide for surviving the zombie apocalypse with science
: Invited talk: Do need-based transfer systems offer a viable alternative to market-based systems
: Invited talk: Is cooperation through need-based transfers part of the human behavioral repertoire? Managing risk, making friends and monitoring cheating in an uncertain world
: Invited talk: Reciprocity and generosity: Two sides of the same coin or entirely different currencies?
: Invited talk: Cancer suppression and the evolution of multicellularity
: Invited talk: Cooperation, Multicellularity and Cancer: How cancer cells evolve to cheat and cooperate in the multicellular milieu
: Invited talk: Cancer as a breakdown of multicellular cooperation: Principles of cooperation and cheating across systems
: Talk: Cooperation in the Apocalypse: The Science of Human Generosity
: Talk: How yeast and bacteria feed each other, create public goods, and protect the shared environment from invading pathogens
: Poster: Are There Rules in Friendship?: How Men and Women Make Their Perfect Friend (Authors: ✝Ayers, J., Krems, J., & Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Feeling with the other may increase helping motivation, but only if the other is family or if we share a stake in each other’s fates: testing the interactive effects of kinship, interdependence, and affective empathy on willingness to help (Authors: ✝Guevara Beltran, D., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Can cooperation save our souls? Need-based transfers and kombucha in the zombie apocalypse
: Talk: Are Tasmanian devils zombies? Transmissible cancer as cellular cheating
: Talk: Host conditional movement influences the evolution of beneficial and harmful microbes
: Talk: The Human Generosity Project: Did need-based transfers and fitness interdependence shape human cooperation?
: Poster: What is Fitness Interdependence from an Evolutionary Perspective? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Measuring and Conceptualizing Fitness Interdependence (Authors: Aktipis, A., ✝Sznycer, D., Sullivan, D., Cronk, L.)
: Poster: Greater Risk-Taking Due to Safety Nets: Are Bilateral Risk-Pooling Relationships Immune? (Authors: ✝Munoz, A., ✝Claessens, S., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Empathy and Willingness to Help (Authors: ✝Guevara Beltran, D., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Do Friendship End If They Have Less Interdependence? (Authors: ✝Ayers, J., ✝Krems, J., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Rules of Friendship (Authors: ✝Ayers, J., ✝Krems, J., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: How Do We Keep Our Friends?: Friendship Jealousy as Negative Emotion for Positive Ends (Authors: ✝Krems, J., Williams, K., Kenrick, D, Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: The Kombucha Project
: Talk: Can kombucha save us from the zombie apocalypse? An overview of the Microbiome and Behavior Project at Arizona State University
: Poster: Symbiotic culture: disrupting bacteria-yeast interactions in kombucha to uncover the cooperative dynamics and the roles of each member of the kom-unity (Authors: ✝Narayanan, S., ✝May, A., Varsani, A., Maley, C., Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: How do multicellular bodies ‘decide’ if a cell poses a cancer threat? Cellular information processing is required to effectively solve Peto’s Paradox
: Poster: Transmissible Cancer and Eusociality: “Sharing” Selfishness with Others (Authors: ✝May, A., Maley, C., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: This Beautiful Monster - an education garden installation at Arizona State University exhibiting the beauty of fasciation in cacti (Authors: Winfrey, P., Robertson, C., Maley, C., Aktipis, A.)
: Conference organizer: Brought theoretical evolutionary biologists and social scientists together with cancer researchers to address cancer from an evolutionary perspective.
: Talk: Fitness interdependence and the study of cooperation: Toward a consensus (Authors: Aktipis, A., Alcock, J., Wilkinson, G., Scott Curry, O., Sullivan, D., Roberts, G., Balliet, D., ✝Sznycer, D., ✝Munoz, A., Winfrey, P., ✝Ayers, J., Wasielewski, H., ✝Boddy, A., ✝Krems, J., Cronk, L.)
: Talk: Foraging in an uncertain world: An agent-based modeling approach to model food sharing strategies in volatile environments (Authors: ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Fitness interdependence shapes helping decisions (Authors: ✝Sznycer, D., Sullivan, D., ✝van den Akker, O., ✝Gervais, M., ✝Munoz, A., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Economic Games among the “Mean” Ik (Authors: Conte, T., ✝ Gervais, M., ✝Iyer, P., ✝McCarthy, D., ✝Sonkoi, D. ✝ Townsend, C., Townsend, C., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Friends, allies, and companions: How models of fitness interdependence shape social categories (Authors: Cronk, L., ✝Iyer, P., ✝Sonkoi, D., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Friendship jealousy: A functional emotion for protecting valued cooperators? (Authors: ✝Krems, J., Williams, K., Kenrick, D., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Sharing for Survival: Cultural strategies for mitigating risk (Authors: ✝Wasielewski, H., ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Stingy, greedy or bad Lannister? Specialized cheater detection mechanisms in response to different selection pressures (Authors: ✝Munoz, A., ✝Sznycer, D., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Why do friendships end? Investigating features of same-sex friendship dissolution. (Authors ✝Ayers, J., ✝Krems, J., & Aktipis, A)
: Poster: The Microbiome and Behavior Project: Leveraging cooperation and conflict in the
: microbiome for human health and disease prevention (Authors: Aktipis, A., ✝Wasielewski, H., ✝May, A., Alcock, J., & Maley, C.).
: Poster: Do men and women have different strategies for ending friendships? (Authors: ✝Ayers, J. D., ✝Krems, J. A., ✝Munoz, A., ✝Sznycer, D., & Aktipis, A.)
: ]Poster: A new, better instrument to measure fitness interdependence. (Authors: Sznycer, D., Sullivan, D., ✝van den Akker, O., ✝Gervais, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A)
: Talk: Avoiding Exploitation: Cognitive Mechanisms for Detecting Greediness, Stinginess, and Failure
: to Pay Debts (Authors: ✝Munoz, A., ✝Sznycer, D., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, .A.
: Talk: What to do with cellular cheaters? The cheater detection problem in multicellularity and cancer susceptibility
: Paper: Host behavior and the oral microbiome (Authors: ✝Wasielewski, H., Maldonado, M. Alcock, J., Mandel, N., Krajmalnik-Brown, R. & Aktipis, A.)
: Talk: Do you believe in Generosity?
: Talk: Beyond Reciprocity: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Cooperation in Human and Cellular Societies2016

Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL

2016: 2016 Keystone Symposia Conference, Newport, Rhode Island
2015: 2015 Conference on Complex Systems, Tempe, AZ, September 30
2015: 2015 Personalized Medicine, Tucson, AZ, September 30 - October 2
2015: Poster: Molecular evolution of cancer: integrating an evolutionary perspective in cancer biology (Authors: ✝Fortunato A., Maley C., and Aktipis A.) 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology, Chicago IL, May 29
2015: 2015 Mayo Clinic Individualizing Medicine Conference, Rochester MN, Sept 21
2015: 2015 The Science of Sharing Forum, Exploratorium Science Museum, San Francisco, June 6
2015: 2015 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Columbia, MO, May 27-30
2015: 2015 Young Presidents Organization Global Digital Forum, San Francisco, May 6
2015: 2015 University of Arizona, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, April 13
2015: 2015 International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, ASU, March 21
2015: 2015 University of California, Davis, Animal Behavior Seminar Series, March 13
2014: 2014 Duke University, Evolutionary Anthropology Seminar Series, Nov 21
2014: 2014 Harvard University, Human Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, Nov 13
2014: 2014 University of New Mexico, Department of Psychology Seminar Series, Nov 3
2013: 2013 Second International Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference, UCSF June 12-16, From Unicellularity to Multicellularity and Back Again Public talk: Is cancer a Darwinian demon?
2013: 2013 Evolution and Comparative Oncology Mini-Symposium, University of Utah, May 7
2013: 2013 University of Arizona Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Departmental Seminar, April 13
2013: 2013 American Association for Cancer Research, DC, April 10
2013: 2013 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Miami, Florida, July 17-20
2013: 2013 Synthesizing the Evolutionary and Social Science Approaches to Human Cooperation catalysis meeting, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Durham NC, April 6
2013: 2013 Chapman Keynote Research Lecture, Kansas University Medical Center, April 5
2013: 2013 Kinetic Theory for the Emergence of Complex Behavior in Social and Economic Systems Workshop, University of Arizona, February 22-24
2012: 2012 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University of New Mexico, June 13-17
2012: 2012 American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, November 14-18
2012: 2012 National Academy of Science Chinese-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, Oct 11-14
2012: 2012 Evolutionary Medicine Symposium, Stanford University, May 8
2012: 2012 Challenges of Complexity Speaker Series, Arizona State University, February 23
2011: 2011 Evolution and Extravagant Altruism Speaker Series, University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, January 9
2011: 2011 National Academy of Science, Sackler Colloquim: Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity, Irvine, Dec 8-10
2011: 2011 UCSF Breast Oncology Program Seminar Series, November 28, 2011
2011: 2011 UCLA Health Psychology Seminar Series, October 19
2011: 2011 Economic Sciences Association, Chicago, October 7-10
2011: 2011 Evolution and Medicine Workshop, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, August 5-7
2011: 2011 First International Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference, UCSF, June 3-5
2011: 2011 Evolutionary Genomics Seminar, Stanford University, June 1
2011: 2011 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar, UCLA, April 12
2011: 2011 Resilience Conference, Arizona State University, March 12-15
2011: 2011 Breast Oncology Program Retreat, UCSF, Jan 27-28.
2010: 2010 Biocomplexity XI: The evolution of cooperation, Indiana University, Dec 3-5.
2010: 2010 Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, Philadelphia, PA, Nov 7-10
2010: 2010 Evolution Conference, Portland State University, OR, June 25-29
2010: 2010 Cancer as a Dynamical System, Arizona State University, June 2-4
2010: 2010 Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, Arizona State University, April 1.
2010: 2010 Water Governing and Risk Pooling Workshop, Arizona State University, March 29
2010: 2010 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Evolutionary Preconference, Las Vegas, Jan 28
2009: 2009 Microbes to Metazoans: Social Behavior and Evolution Symposium, Georgia Tech, Dec 2-4
2009: 2009 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Nov 11
2009: 2009 Society for Philosophy and Psychology, University of Indiana, June 12-14
2009: 2009 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, UC Fullerton, May 28- 31
2009: 2009 UCLA Center for Behavior Evolution and Culture, May 27
2009: 2009 Group as Individual Conference, Arizona State University, April 30-May 2
2009: 2009 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, April 20
2009: 2009 Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, Arizona State University, April 16
2008: 2008 Principles of Repurposing, Santa Fe Institute, July 14-16
2008: 2008 Reed Psychology Alumni Conference, Reed College, June 6-7
2008: 2008 Swarmfest (agent-based modeling), Northwestern University, May 11-13
2006: 2006 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University of Pennsylvania, June 7-11,
2006: 2006 Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, Instructor, Undergraduate Summer Workshop, University of Pennsylvania
2005: 2005 Institute for Humane Studies Human Nature and Institutions Summer Graduate Student Workshop
2005: 2005 Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Instructor, Undergraduate Summer Workshop, UPenn
2003: 2003 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University of Nebraska, June 4-8
2003: 2003 Lake Arrowhead Conference on Computational Social Science, UCLA, March 19-23
2003: 2003 Portland State University, Systems Science Talk Series, February 7
2002: 2002 Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Rutgers University, June 19-23
2000: 2000 Artificial Life VII Conference, Reed College, August 1-8
2000: 2000 International Systems Science Society Symposium, July 16-22
2000: 2000 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Amherst College, June 7-11
: Poster: Cheater Detection for Need-Based Transfers: Beyond Account-Keeping (Authors: ✝Munoz, A., ✝Sznycer, D., ✝Chang, A., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Conflict and cooperation between host and gut microbiota: Implications for obesity and metabolic disease (Authors: Alcock, J., ✝Wasielewski, H., and Aktipis, A.)201583
: Third Biannual Evolution and Cancer Conference, UCSF, Dec 10-13 Invited talk Multicellularity and cancer susceptibility: Costs, benefits and tradeoffs in scaling up cellular cooperation
: Poster: Multilevel selection, cooperation, and conflict in cancer (Authors: ✝Fortunato A., Maley C., and Aktipis A.)
: Conference organizer: Brought theoretical evolutionary biologists and social scientists together with cancer researchers to address cancer from an evolutionary perspective
: Invited talk: Cooperation and Cheating in Complex Multicellularity
: Talk: Enhancing resilience through resource transfers in social networks: Risk management through need-based transfers and account-keeping systems (Authors: ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis,
: Invited talk: Evolutionary approaches to cancer treatment
: Invited talk: Cooperation, conflict and the promise of comparative oncology
: Invited talk: Cooperation in multicellularity and other social systems
: Invited talk: Need-based transfers in cooperative systems
: Talk: Are there tradeoffs between reproductive competitiveness and cancer susceptibility? Post doc award competition: ✝Amy Boddy)
: Talk: Need-based transfers in cooperative systems (Authors: Aktipis, A., ✝Boddy, A., Cronk, L.)
: Talk: Generous by nature: Risk, need, and the evolution of human cooperation (Authors: Cronk, L., ✝Gervais, M., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Need-based transfers and account-keeping in social networks: How do alternative cooperative strategies scale-up? (Authors: ✝Campenni, M., Cronk, L., & Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: Cheater detection in need-based transfer systems (Authors: ✝Chang, A., Cronk, L., Aktipis, A.)
: Poster: “Spiritual kinship”, need-based transfers, and the evolution of cooperation (Authors: ✝ Lenfesty, H., Aktipis, A., Cronk, L.)
: Invited talk: The origins and future of human sharing
: Talk: Cancer as cheating in the foundations of multicellular cooperation
: Talk: Cancer as somatic cheating: Resource acquisition and monopolization in multicellularity and cancer
: Talk: Need-based transfers across cooperative systems
: Invited talk: From human sharing to multicellularity: The evolution of resource transfers and economic cheating
: Talk: Cooperation and sharing across systems: From human sharing to multicellularity
: Talk: Beyond tit-for-tat: Computational models of human sharing and the evolution of sociality
: Talk: Evolutionary life history tradeoffs in cancer
: Invited Talk: Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology
: Invited talk: Cancer as cheating in the foundations of multicellular cooperation
: Invited Talk: Evolution under resource limitation: Models of motility and metastasis
: Invited Talk: The impact of social stress on women’s health & fertility: An evolutionary life history perspective
: Talk: Do metabolic tradeoffs explain why humans have exceptionally large brains? Testing the expensive tissue hypothesis using phylogenetic analysis (Authors: ✝Boddy, A., Aktipis, A., Sherwood, C., Grossman, L., Wildman, D.)
: Invited Talk: Generosity or reciprocity: Resource transfers and risk pooling
: Keynote address: Fundamental questions in cancer evolution: Knowns and unknowns
: Invited Talk: Cooperation through decentralized movement and sharing norms
: Grand Rounds, Evolutionary Medicine Month, UCLA, February 6 Invited Grand Rounds Speaker: Evolutionary Foundations for Cancer Biology
: Talk: Generosity without reciprocity, part 1: Computational models of need-based transfers and risk pooling
: Talk: Generosity without reciprocity, part 2: Need-based transfers and reciprocity in a risk-pooling game (presented by Lee Cronk)
: Talk: The animal nature of spontaneous human laughter (presented by Greg Bryant)
: Talk: Can a reduction in ovulation cues be the result of inter-female aggression? Testing alternative hypotheses for the evolution of concealed ovulation in a simulated ancestral environment (presented by Melissa Fales)
: Talk: Generosity without debt, part 1: Computational models of risk pooling through need-based transfers
: Talk: Generosity without debt, part 2: Need-based transfers in a risk-pooling game (presented by Lee Cronk)
: Poster: Solving the paradox of breast cancer susceptibility: Evolution and Estrogen Receptors
: Invited Talk: The evolution and ecology of metastasis: Can we control cancer by targeting dispersal evolution?
: Talk: Generosity without reciprocity: Computational models of risk-pooling and sharing norms in human societies
: Invited Talk: Beyond reciprocity and kin selection: Is it time to rethink the foundations of cooperation theory?
: Poster: Is early adversity a risk factor for hormone negative breast cancer? (with Bruce J. Ellis, Katherine Nishimura and Robert A. Hiatt)
: Talk: Evolutionary medicine for breast cancer: Can evolutionary life history theory explain differential risk factors associated with hormone receptor status?
: Talk: Breast Cancer Susceptibility from an Evolutionary and Social Perspective
: Talk: Emergence of risk sharing in a stochastic environment (talk presented by Steve Gazzillo)
: Talk: Evolutionary medicine for breast cancer: Revisiting the environmental mismatch hypothesis
: Talk: An evolutionary life history perspective on breast cancer
: Talk: Evolution and cancer: harnessing evolution to reduce cancer mortality
: Talk: Cooperation in a spatial world: Simple rules favor the evolution of sociality and conditional movement
: Talk: Resource management and risk pooling: Exploring the viability of indigenous solutions for modern resource management problems
: Poster: Identifying opportunities for evolutionary thinking in breast cancer
: Invited talk: The evolution of metastasis
: Poster: Conceptual barriers in cancer prevention research
: Talk: The evolution of metastasis
: Invited Talk: Playing games with cancer
: Invited talk: Social evolution and cancer
: Workshop organizer: Planned workshop, and coordinated talks, discussions and activities
: Invited Talk: Walk the walk: Models of mobility and the evolution of cooperation
: Poster: Conditional movement and the emergence of social structure in the evolution of Cooperation
: Poster: Do we need complex cognition for the evolution of cooperation? Implications of conditional movement
: Talk: Is group selection viable for highly mobile organisms? Rethinking the assumptions of standard group selection models
: Invited talk: Walking Away from the Haystack: Conditional movement favors the evolution of cooperation in groups
: Talk: Walking Away from the Haystack: Conditional movement enhances the stability of cooperative groups and promotes the evolution of cooperation
: Invited talk: Social norms and simple rules: Agent-based models of cooperation
: Invited talk: Walking Away from the Haystack: How conditional movement favors the evolution of cooperation
: Invited talk: Decentralized Redesign: Insights from principles in the evolution of cooperation
: Invited talk: Generative social science: Building sociality from the ground up with agent based models of decision-making
: Talk: A SIMPLE model for the evolution of movement and cooperation: Social dilemmas emerge from interactions with a shared environment
: Talk: Reciprocity and contingent movement in the evolution of cooperation in groups
: Poster: Intertemporal choice and social cues
: Invited talk: Know when to Walk Away: contingent movement and the evolution of cooperation
: Talk: Simple 'Walk Away' rule promotes the evolution of cooperation in groups
: Invited talk: Just 'Walk Away:' Using agent-based models to investigate the evolution of cooperation
: Talk: Cooperative agents with contingent movement rules resist invasion by Tit-for-Tat and PAVLOV
: Talk: Cooperative agents with contingent movement rules outperform Tit-for-Tat and PAVLOV
: Talk: Biological and social symbiosis: An agent-based exploration
: Invited talk: Cooperative agents with contingent movement rules outperform defectors
: Talk: Behavioral and cognitive pathways to the evolution of cooperation
: Poster: Intertemporal choice in variable and stabile environments
: Talk: The effect of behavioral assortment on selection dynamics: Externalities, information processing and subjective commitment
: Workshop organizer: Organized workshop on the role of A-Life in the group selection debate
: Poster: An information processing approach to consciousness
: Poster: A social interface theory of consciousness