University of Hawaii professor Christopher J. Bae is being awarded a $1.1 million grant to research eastern Asian human evolution during prehistory.

The grant comes from the Academy of Korean Studies in South Korea, and it’s one of only six proposals worldwide funded by the academy’s Korean Studies Promotion Service division.

University of Hawaii officials said Tuesday that the money will be used to conduct paleoanthropological research in Korea from 2011 to 2015.

Bae said he’ll draw on data from different social and natural science fields to study the development of human evolution in the region.

Bae’s proposal was supported by the University of Hawaii’s Department of Anthropology, College of Social Sciences and Center for Korean Studies.