People: Principal Investigator

Penelope F. Kukuk, Ph.D

Research Professor
(406) 243-6144
penny.kukuk@mso.umt.edu | website

Penelope F. Kukuk, Ph.D.

Penelope F. Kukuk received her B. S. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Zoology and her Ph. D. from the University of Kansas in Ecology and Systematics. After postdoctoral work at Cornell University's Department of Entomology she undertook a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Kukuk moved to Montana in 1989 as a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences and is currently a Research Professor in that department. Her major scientific research focus is the evolution of sociality, particularly the fitness consequences of cooperation in groups made up of non-relatives. In addition to her scientific interests, Dr. Kukuk is the PI and director of three projects with the goal of engaging the totality of human diversity in the scientific enterprise. Two of them, Project TRAIN and Bridges to the Baccalaureate, provide summer research experiences at UM to tribal college students to facilitate their advancement to four-year institutions and graduate school. The third, Project PACE is aimed at increasing the numbers and status of women scientists in academia.