Rebecca Stumpf is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with appointments in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, the Center for African Studies, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Study, and the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine. She directs the Kanyanchu River Chimpanzee Project and Research Collaborative in Uganda. Her research examines wild chimpanzee behavior and biology, comparative evolution and sexual selection, comparative microbial ecology, host-microbial interactions, disease transmission and antimicrobial resistance, and conservation.

She has co-authored over 70 scientific articles and book chapters in journal such as Nature, International Society of Microbial Ecology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Animal Behavior, Biological Conservation, and PLoS One. She has also co-edited journal special issues on The Primate Microbiome and Primate Dispersal and co-edited a book, Primates in Perspective. Other publications include: The Microbiome and Primate Conservation: New Tools and Applications; The Primate Vaginal Microbiome: Comparative Context and Implications for Human Health and Disease; Chimpanzees and Bonobos: Diversity within and between Species; The Context of Female Dispersal; Reproductive Strategies of Female Chimpanzees; Patterns of Diversity in Gorilla Cranial Morphology; and Sexual Conflict in Primates. Additionally, Stumpf serves as an associate editor for two journals, Microbiome and Animal Microbiome.

Stumpf was named a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, a Beckman Fellow, an I.C. Gunsalus Scholar, a Center for Advanced Study Fellow, and a University Scholar for Excellence in Scholarship, Teaching and Service. She has received multiple teaching awards including the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Department Award for Teaching Excellence, and the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, the National Institutes of Health, Primate Conservation, Conservation International, the Leakey Foundation, and the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.