Kay Behrensmeyer

Anna K. Behrensmeyer
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis Harvard University
Spouse	William Keyser
Children	Two
Scientific career
Fields	Taphonomy, paleoecology
Institutions	National Museum of Natural History
Thesis	The Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Plio-Pleistocene Vertebrate Assemblages East of Lake Rudolf, Kenya (1973)
Doctoral advisor	Bryan Patterson

Anna Katherine "Kay" Behrensmeyer is an American taphonomist and paleoecologist. She is a pioneer in the study of the fossil records of terrestrial ecosystems and engages in geological and paleontological field research into the ecological context of human evolution in East Africa. She is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). At the museum, she is co-director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program and an associate of the Human Origins Program.^[1]