Robert Jurmain received an A.B. in Anthropology from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from Harvard. He taught at San Jose State University from 1975 to 2004 and is now Professor Emeritus. During his teaching career, he taught courses in all major branches of physical anthropology, including osteology and human evolution, with the greatest concentration in general education teaching for introductory students. His research interests are skeletal biology of humans and non-human primates, paleopathology, and paleoanthropology.

In addition to his three textbooks, which together have appeared in 30 editions, he is the author of STORIES FROM THE SKELETON: BEHAVIORAL RECONSTRUCTION IN HUMAN OSTEOLOGY (1999, Gordon Breach Publishers), as well as numerous articles in research journals.