 Fields succeeds Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, who is writing a book on co-rearing studies conducted with a bonobo and chimpanzee
Des Moines, Iowa – June 27, 2007 – Officials with Great Ape Trust of Iowa announced today that William M. Fields, one of only two scientists in the world to conduct language research with bonobos, has been named director of bonobo research. Great Ape Trust is a scientific research center in Des Moines dedicated to the study of the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence.
In his new position, Fields will oversee the daily operations of the bonobo laboratory and staff, coordinate research activities with leading scientists throughout the United States and around the world, and assist with the development of educational opportunities with The Trust's academic partners. Fields assumes the operations of the bonobo facility from Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, who will concentrate on her next book about her co-rearing studies with a bonobo and chimpanzee.
"These new responsibilities for Sue and Bill reflect the growth in Great Ape Trust's scientific foundation. Bill has earned this appointment through years of experience and leadership at the forefront of cognitive research, while it's important that Sue has the flexibility to devote her scientific efforts to publishing her remarkable and extensive insights into the development of the mind," said Ted Townsend, founder and chairman of Great Ape Trust. "As The Trust's academic affiliations multiply, they each remain fully committed to advancing science and nurturing the next generation of professional primatologists."
Fields, a native of Atlanta, Ga., joined Great Ape Trust in 2005 when a colony of eight bonobos was transferred to Iowa from the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. As director of bonobo research at Great Ape Trust, Fields succeeds Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, with whom he collaborated at the Language Research Center for seven years. Fields is determined to continue the scientific trajectories of Savage-Rumbaugh and Dr. Duane Rumbaugh, co-founder of the Language Research Center and scientist emeritus at Great Ape Trust. Additionally, Fields is committed to developing an institutional structure dedicated to a transdisciplinary approach.
View an interview with William Fields discussing research at Great Ape Trust. Play Video »
For more on her bonobo research and great ape conservation, watch an interview with Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Play Video » |
Fields said the importance of this research cannot be overstated. "If Kanzi, a non-human primate, is able to acquire the kinds of competencies that characterize his performance in the laboratory – to possess receptive competence for spoken English coupled with production of visual symbols – then the comparative implication for human development is dramatically significant," he said. "It speaks to a future of a democracy of human brilliance spread across the many rather than a few."
Fields is co-author of a number of scientific publications including Kanzi's Primal Language: The Cultural Initiation of Primates into Language (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) with Savage-Rumbaugh and Dr. Par Segerdahl of Uppsala University of Sweden.
"In writing Kanzi's Primal Language, I was faced with the challenge of synthesizing the epistemologies of three disciplines. It is clear: The bridging rules to connect the disciplines are just not there. The futurists of science speak of interdisciplinary thought as solution to the challenges of empowering scientific practice to meet the modern challenges of knowledge; however, there is a disjunction between rhetoric and practice," Fields added. "Our goal is to bring scientists together who are willing to frequently challenge what they know and believe to be true at the fundamental level. For the moment we are multidisciplinary. Our hope is to produce students who are authentically interdisciplinary scientists."
Fields' appointment to director of bonobo research provides new opportunities for his predecessor and scientific mentor, Savage-Rumbaugh. A pioneer in the field of ape language studies through decades of research with chimpanzees and bonobos, Savage-Rumbaugh has begun work on another book. The publication will provide new insights into the historical studies of ape language,including Savage-Rumbaugh's cross-species co-rearing study with a bonobo (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). This groundbreaking work represents the first attempt to simultaneously rear a chimpanzee and a bonobo in the same language environment in an effort to determine the relative strengths of environmental versus species variables.
"This work will show for the first time the true power of the environment in determining basic behavioral and learning trajectories in apes," said Savage-Rumbaugh.
Savage-Rumbaugh joined Great Ape Trust in spring 2005 following a 30-year association with Georgia State University's Language Research Center (LRC). Her initial research at the LRC involved the collaboration with two young chimpanzees Sherman and Austin which laid the experimental and philosophical foundation for her future work with bonobos, including Kanzi.
Savage-Rumbaugh's work with Kanzi, the first ape to learn language in the same manner as children, was detailed in Language Comprehension in Ape and Child published in Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (1993). It was selected by the "Millennium Project" as one of the top 100 most influential works in cognitive science in the 20th century by the University of Minnesota Center for Cognitive Sciences in 1991. Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh's work is also featured in Apes, Language and the Human Mind (Oxford Press, 1996) and Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind (John Wiley & Sons, 1995).
"What has proved successful over the years and continues to set this research apart today is human-ape interaction," added Savage-Rumbaugh.
Savage-Rumbaugh's honors include: The Smithsonian Institution's display of "Understanding Ourselves, Understanding Each Other," sponsored by the American Psychological Association's Centennial Convention; being an invited speaker to the Nobel Conference XXXII (1996); receiving an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Chicago (1997) for her research with Sherman, Austin and Kanzi and receiving the Leighton A. Wilkie Award in Anthropology from Indiana University (2000).
Great Ape Trust Background
Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
