Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny



The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) is a center at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). Formally established in 2008, CARTA is a collaboration between faculty members of UC San Diego main campus, the UCSD School of Medicine, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and interested scientists at other institutions from around the world.

CARTA was formed in order to promote transdisciplinary research into anthropogeny - the study of human origins - drawing on methods from a number of traditional disciplines spanning the humanities, social, biomedical, biological, computational & engineering and physical & chemical sciences.

History of CARTA
Before CARTA was established as a UC San Diego-recognized center, a multidisciplinary effort to study human origins had already been underway in the La Jolla area for over a decade, coordinated by the then "UCSD Project for Explaining the Origin of Humans" (POH). The POH group involved local experts in San Diego as well as many others throughout the world. The primary activity of the POH was to organize multi-disciplinary interactions amongst members (via meetings in La Jolla), and via secure internet-based mechanisms. These efforts were converted into a larger and more publicly active center, which facilitates graduate education in relevant departments and programs.

Mission statement
"'Use all rational and ethical approaches to seek all verifiable facts from all relevant disciplines to explore and explain the origins of the human phenomenon, while minimizing complex organizational structures and hierarchies, and avoiding unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy. In the process, raise awareness and understanding of the study of human origins within the academic community and the public at large.'"

Organization and leadership
The current co-directors of CARTA are Pascal Gagneux (Executive Co-Director; Professor of Pathology and Anthropology, UC San Diego); Katerina Semendeferi (Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory for Human Comparative Neuroanatomy, UC San Diego), and Gerald Joyce (President and Professor, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies). CARTA Emeriti co-directors (2008-2022) include founding co-director, Ajit Varki (Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, UC San Diego, and Adjunct Professor, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies), Margaret Schoeninger (Distinguished Professor Emerita and former Chair of the Department of  Anthropology, UC San Diego), and Fred Gage (Professor, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Neurosciences, UC San Diego).

Activities
CARTA sponsors a symposium series on human origins for both researchers and the public. It also partners with other San Diego institutions and organizations in sponsoring public lectures, and offers a graduate specialization available to students in participating PhD programs at UC San Diego.

The Center sponsors the (MOCA), formerly known as the "Museum of Comparative Anthropogeny," an online compilation of comparative information that highlights the differences between humans and the “great apes,” with an emphasis on uniquely human features. It also compiles a chronological list of book titles relevant to exploring human origins and human evolution.

It curates the Museum of Primatology (MOP), a collection of chimpanzee and nonhuman primate skeletons, which are currently undergoing 3D digitization and IT integration.

CARTA does not directly fund or organize research by its members, but provides a forum for researchers in varied fields to come together in venues across the UC San Diego campus "to explore and explain the human phenomenon.”

Areas of interest

 * Human and primate genetics and evolution
 * Paleoanthropology and hominid origins
 * Mammalian and primate neuroscience
 * Primate biology and medicine
 * Language, communication and cognition
 * Nature-nurture interactions in explaining language and cognition
 * Human and primate society and culture
 * Comparative developmental biology of primates
 * General theories for explaining humans