Elizabeth Johnson
Name: Elizabeth Johnson
Advisor: Dr. Sara Juengst
Education:
B.A. Anthropology and Psychology, North Carolina State University, 2015
Research Interests:
Skeletal biology as an indicator of health; Trauma analysis; Human-environment interactions; Sociocultural responses to marginal environments; stable isotope analysis; climate change
Current Position:
I am currently a Youth Specialist with the NCWorks NextGen Youth Program at Gaston College. This is a federally funded grant program operating under the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act of 2014 that aids young adults in overcoming various barriers to employment. This is accomplished by offering basic & intense career services, as well as educational and career sponsorships and training. As a Youth Specialist I meet with individuals to develop a personalized career plan best suited for them to achieve their goals, and then aid them in doing so.
Ashley McDermott
Name: Ashley McDermott
Advisor: Dr. Elise Berman
Education:
BA Applied Anthropology and Political Science, UNC Charlotte 2015
MA Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, UNC Chapel Hill 2017
Research Interests:
Language socialization and language shift, language planning and policy, language and identity, anthropology of childhood
Current Research:
My current work examines how the use of Russian and Kyrgyz in an urban Kyrgyz family sheds light on changing conceptions of child-rearing, kinship, and cultural identity in the post-Soviet era.
Ashley Shults
Name: Ashley Shults
Advisor: Dr. Sara Juengst
Education:
A.A. The Arts and Sciences Division, Gaston College, 2016
B.A. Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 2017
Research Interests:
Bioarchaeology, the Andes, migration, mobility, human environment interaction, paleopathology
Current Research:
My current research utilizes isotopic and bioarchaeological lines of evidence to investigate migration and mobility during the Archaic period in the Eastern Andes.
Abigail Bythell
Name: Abigail Bythell
Advisor: Dr. Sara Juengst
Education:
B.A. Archaeology and Biology, The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 2017
Research Interests:
Paleopathology, social bioarchaeology, lifestyle embodiment, archaeology
Current Research:
My thesis research focuses on the paleopathology of skeletal remains from a prehistoric (100 BCE) ritual site on the southern coast of Ecuador.
Carita Westbrook
Name: Carita Westbrook
Advisor: Dr. Sara Juengst
Education:
A.S. Biology, Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX, 2012
B.A. Anthropology, Magna Cum Laude, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2015
Research Interests:
Paleo-oncology; Paleopathology; Skeletal biology as an indicator of health; Andean Population Health; Pre-historic medical interventions; Gene/Environment interactions and associated health implications; Public Health; Role of socio-cultural beliefs in healing.
Current Research:
My thesis research focuses on the bioarchaeological analysis of Pre-hispanic Andeans of the coastal and highland regions during the Late Intermediate Period. My research investigates altitude as the contributing factor of cancer incidence.
Daniel Fogal
Name: Daniel Fogal
Advisor: Dr. Elise Berman
Education:
B.A. English Language and Literature, Queens University of Charlotte, 2013
Research Interests:
Language and identity; Family language policy in multinational households; Human-computer interaction
Current Research:
My thesis is centered around how family language policy differs in planning and in praxis amongst Taiwanese-American families in the United States and how this relates to identity.
Autumn Hudock
Name: Autumn Hudock
Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Marks
Education:
Early Entry Graduate Student with an expected graduation date of Spring 2019
Research Interests:
Ancient DNA, human biology, molecular anthropology, paleopathology, paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, osteology, and primate evolution
Current Research:
Maggie Sobaszek
Name: Maggie Sobaszek
Advisor: Dr. Lydia Light
Education:
B.A. Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017
Research Interests:
Primate behavioral ecology, spatial ecology, conservation
Current Research:
My thesis research focuses on the ranging behaviors of wild white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) living in a challenging environment in western Thailand.
Philip Corbett
Advisor: Dr. Lydia Light
Education:
BA Anthropology, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Spring 2019
Research Interests:
Primate behavior and conservation, zoonotic disease, nocturnality
Current Research:
Zoonotic disease within urban non-human primates
Julia Mileski
Name: Julia Mileski
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Ogburn
Education:
BA in Anthropology with a minor in Music, Wake Forest University
Research Interests:
Museum anthropology, artifact management and curation, place and belonging/ownership, socio-cultural impacts of museums in rural communities
Current Research:
How museums in small communities connect residents of their community to a collective historic and current identity; how collections, displays, exhibits, and the building itself assist in the creation of identity bonds and personal attachment/belonging