Most biological anthropologists teach and do research at universities and colleges around the country. Some teach in high schools, as well. Others work for various state and federal government agencies, and still others are privately employed.

At colleges and universities, they can be found in departments of anthropology, anatomy, biological sciences, human biology, zoology, in medical school departments, and also in combined departments of sociology and anthropology or social sciences. Those who study primates are often in departments of biology or psychology or on the staffs of zoos or zoological research institutes. Human paleontologists may be employed in departments of paleontology, prehistory, or geology, or as staff members of natural history museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Biological anthropologists who work with living peoples may work at medical schools, or be found in departments of physiology, nutrition, or genetics, or programs of physical education and athletics.
Besides teaching and research, biological anthropologists may do forensic (medical/legal) consultation (skeletal identification or DNA fingerprinting) for law enforcement agencies to assist in solving crimes. There are many and varied professional opportunities for biological anthropologists.

Why is Biological Anthropology an Exciting and Rewarding Profession?
A profession that is stimulating and satisfying can make an individual's life an extremely enriching experience. Several things make the lives of professional biological anthropologists very exciting. There is the enjoyment of scientific research, with endless questions to be answered and discoveries to be made. Second, there is the opportunity to write and communicate the findings of your research to audiences of all kinds and all ages. Third, teaching, while hard work, is very rewarding; students provide a constant source of stimulation.
Finally, most biological anthropologists do research in what is called the "field," outside of the conventional laboratory. Field research can take place in relatively exotic places such as Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, or in hospitals and zoological parks, for example--anywhere an interesting biological problem has been identified. The "field" is really worldwide and wide open!

What Opportunities are there to Study Biological Anthropology?
There are many opportunities for individuals who wish to become biological anthropologists. While few high schools offer courses specifically in biological anthropology, many have courses in anthropology or cover anthropology in social studies classes. Programs in anthropology are available at hundreds of universities and colleges around the country, and most have courses in biological anthropology.

Biomedical Anthropology

Biomedical anthropology is a subfield of anthropology, predominantly found in US academic and public health settings, that incorporates perspectives from the biological and medical anthropology subfields. In contrast to much of medical anthropology, it does not generally take a critical approach to biomedicine and Western medicine. Instead, it seeks to improve medical practice and biomedical science through the holistic integration of cross-cultural or biocultural, behavioral, and epidemiological perspectives on health. As an academic discipline, biomedical anthropology is closely related to human biology.
Currently, the only accredited degree program in biomedical anthropology is at Binghamton University. Other anthropology departments, such as that of the University of Washington, offer biomedical tracks within more traditional biological or biocultural anthropology programs.

Careers in Physical Anthropology

Academic Positions

There are many academic careers for appropriately trained physical anthropologists. The most common and traditional job openings are found in anthropology departments in colleges and universities. University departments of genetics, zoology, and biology also offer potential employment. So do community colleges and professional schools. Many schools of medicine rely on biological anthropologists to teach the gross anatomy of the human body to medical and paramedical students. Currently, around one in eight American physical anthropologists has some professional affiliation with a medical school, usually in a department of anatomy.
A detailed appreciation of the range of jobs held by physical anthropologists can be gained by studying the membership directory of the AAPA, published every December in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. To obtain an AAPA pamphlet providing additional details on careers in physical anthropology, contact the Chair of the  AAPA Career Development Committee.

Non-academic Positions

APPLIED ANTHROPOMETRY

Wherever people need information about the size, shape, anatomy, and growth of the human body, there are job opportunities for physical anthropologists. In the private sector, such jobs can be found in the automotive and aerospace industries and with private consulting firms. In the public sector, job openings in applied anthropometry are concentrated in the military. Appropriate preparation for these jobs involves graduate training in such disciplines as anatomy, genetics, nutrition, biomechanics, kinesiology, and biostatistics.

CAREERS IN MUSEUMS

Museums of natural history, anthropology, archaeology, and science and technology offer employment opportunities for physical anthropologists. There are over 700 such institutions in the United States alone. Curatorships at large research museums are much like professorships at major universities, and competition for such posts is correspondingly stiff. Museums are also involved with education at primary and secondary school and adult levels through on-site, outreach, traveling exhibit, and publication programs. Physical anthropologists may serve in such programs as education officers and coordinators, or find positions in exhibit development, collection management, publications, and museum administration. Appropriate graduate training in such disciplines as anthropology, anatomy, biology, geology, and paleontology is an invaluable asset in seeking a museum post

CAREERS IN ZOOS

To physical anthropologists trained in primate biology, zoological parks and gardens offer career opportunities under two main headings: collection management, and captive breeding programs for endangered species. Training in the study of primate behavior is a useful preparation for both sorts of job. Geneticists skilled in the application of such new technologies as DNA fingerprinting to the genetic management of small populations also find employment opportunities in zoos. Applicants for zoo positions need to have a broad zoological background, extending beyond the primates to encompass other mammalian and vertebrate groups. Graduate research experience with zoo populations is probably the best entry into the world of zoo research.

CAREERS IN FORENSIC SCIENCES

Forensic anthropologists use their knowledge of osteology and anatomy to make forensic determinations and identifications involving human remains. They find employment in the offices of medical examiners and coroners across the United States. They are also in demand as expert witnesses in the courtroom. Preparation for a career in forensic anthropology typically involves graduate training in anatomy, skeletal biology, archaeological field methods, legal evidence, pathology, and forensic science. Supervised casework and participatory membership in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences are important for professional advancement.

History

Scientific physical anthropology began in the 18th century with the study of racial classification.^[2] In the 1830s and 1840s, physical anthropology was prominent in the debate about slavery, with the scientific, monogenist works of the British abolitionist James Cowles Prichard (1786–1848) opposing those of the American polygenist Samuel George Morton (1799–1851). The first prominent physical anthropologist, the German physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) of Göttingen, amassed a large collection of human skulls.
In the latter 19th century French physical anthropologists, led by Paul Broca (1824–1880), focused on craniometry while the German tradition, led by Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), emphasized the influence of environment and disease upon the human body. American thought has evolved during the “four-field approach”, skeletons, artifacts, language and culture and many (ways of life), based upon study's on the remains of the North American hominin clade.
In 1897 Columbia University appointed Franz Boas (1858–1942) as a physical anthropologist for his expertise in measuring schoolchildren and collecting Inuit skeletons. From his German education and training, Boas emphasized the mutability of the human form and minimized race (then a biology synonym) in favor of culture. Ales Hrdlicka (1869–1943), a physician, studied physical anthropology in France under Leonce Manouvrier (fr) before working at the Smithsonian Institution from 1902.

Earnest Hooton (1887–1954), a Classics PhD from the University of Wisconsin, entered anthropology as an Oxford Rhodes Scholar under R. R. Marett and the anatomist Arthur Keith. Harvard University hired Hooton in 1913; he trained most American physical anthropologists of the coming decades, beginning with Harry L. Shapiro and Carleton S. Coon, and struggled to differentiate physical anthropology from racism. There was much intellectual continuity with Germans such as Eugen Fischer, Fritz Lenz and Erwin Baur.
In 1951 Sherwood Washburn, a Hooton alumnus, introduced a "new physical anthropology." He changed the focus from racial typology to concentrate upon the study of human evolution, moving away from classification towards evolutionary process. Anthropology expanded to comprehend paleoanthropology and primatology
 

Notable biological anthropologists

• John Lawrence Angel
• George J. Armelagos (born 1936)
• William M. Bass
• Jane E. Buikstra (born 1945)
• Robert Corruccini
• Raymond Dart
• Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt
• Linda Fedigan
• A. Roberto Frisancho (born 1939)
• Jane Goodall
• Colin Groves
• Yohannes Haile-Selassie
• Ralph Holloway (born 1935)
• William W. Howells
• Donald Johanson
• Robert Jurmain
• Louis Leakey
• Mary Leakey
• Richard Leakey (born 1944)
• Frank B. Livingstone (1928–2005)
• Owen Lovejoy
• Russell Mittermeier
• Douglas W. Owsley (born 1951)
• David Pilbeam
• Kathy Reichs (Kathleen Joan Toelle Reichs)
• Pardis Sabeti (born 1975)
• Eugenie C. Scott (born 1945)
• Meredith Small
• Phillip V. Tobias (born 1925)
• Douglas H. Ubelaker (born 1946)
• Sherwood Washburn (1911–2000)
• David Watts
• Tim White (born 1950)
• Milford H. Wolpoff (born 1942)
• Richard Wrangham