Central Washington University (CWU) in Ellensburg, southeast of Seattle, offers the only primatology graduate degree in the country -- the M.S. in primate behavior. The school also offers an M.S. in experimental psychology with an emphasis in primate behavior and a bachelor's degree in primate behavior and ecology. The B.S. degree requires a dual major with anthropology, psychology or biology.
Students at Central Washington University have opportunities for research and training with the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) and its resident chimpanzees Loulis, Tatu and Dar. All three chimps are family members of Washoe, the first nonhuman to use a human language when she learned American Sign Language, who died in 2007 at age 42.
According to its website, the institute "emphasizes ethics in primatology and the importance of biodiversity." The goals of the institute are to protect and care for its three sanctuary chimpanzees, to instill a sense of compassion and respect for apes through education, and to promote humane, noninvasive research into chimpanzee behavior and communication. CHCI provides opportunities for apprenticeships, internships and volunteer docents, and it schedules educational programs, called Chimposiums, to the public.
The Jane Goodall Institute and the University of Minnesota established the Center for Primate Studies in Minneapolis to archive four decades of journals, slides, photos and videotape from Goodall's analysis of chimpanzee behavior at Gombe Stream National Park in Africa. Since 1995, the center has focused on digitizing Goodall's research data for an online database useful for conservation and educational purposes. The center also pursues field research in chimpanzee ecology, biology and behavior. The nonprofit Jane Goodall Institute, based in Virginia, also promotes primate protection and conservation of primate habitat, as well as advocates noninvasive research methods for chimpanzees.
More than 200 chimpanzees have been held at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, originally for the space program in the 1950s and later for biomedical experiments. The nonprofit Animal Protection of New Mexico has advocated for the chimps to be permanently retired and cared for in a sanctuary setting. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which still owns the chimps, has planned to move them to Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas, where they again will be made available for biomedical research.
More than 350 chimpanzees at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and about 100 chimpanzees at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center near Austin are made available to researchers for biomedical experiments. The federal government funds all of these facilities through the NIH.