Dr. Jennifer Raff, an award-winning author and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, will give the 2025 Allman Family Lecture at SMU titled "Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas."

Humans are travelers. From ancestors living two million years ago to children born in 2025, we have migrated from one place to another in search of resources, to flee danger, or simply to explore. This mobility and adaptability is arguably one of our greatest strengths. In recent years, the study of DNA from ancient and contemporary humans has shed new light on our history of movement, complementing findings from archaeology and paleontology. In this lecture award-winning geneticist Dr. Raff will explore some of the most exciting examples of migration across human history, visible through the lens of genetics, and how they give insights into who we are.

Dr. Raff's research focuses on understanding human history through the lens of genetics. She works with Indigenous communities and tribes across North America who wish to use ancient and contemporary DNA as a tool for investigating questions of recent and more distant histories. 

Her first book, "Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas" was a critical success, described as "an authoritative tale from the trenches told by a fearless scientist," a "necessary and elegant text," and by The New York Times as "the book anyone interested in the peopling of the Americas must read." Origin, which was a New York Times bestseller for two weeks, received multiple awards including the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (2023). 

Raff has also written numerous articles on genetics, history, and human variation for the general public, emphasizing not only the translation of complicated scientific concepts into accessible language, but also the ethics and complicated history of research on these subjects. She was described by the New York Times as "at the forefront of a culture change in our science."

In 2024 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (General Nonfiction) to support work on her second book, "The Ancients: The Untold Story of How We Became Human" under contract with Twelve Books. 

She received a PhD in 2008 from Indiana University, with a double major in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology (with a focus on genetics) and Biological Anthropology. She completed postdoctoral work at the University of Utah, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University at Chicago, and the University of Texas at Austin, before accepting the position at the University of Kansas in the Anthropology Department, receiving tenure in 2020.