Who I Am

Academics:

  • PhD Major: Anthropology and Geography
  • MA: Anthropology, Univ. of Colorado, Denver
  • BA: Anthropology / History, CU Boulder

A Bit About Me

I am a paleoanthropologist, studying the fossils and artifacts of our early ancestors in East Africa. I am currently a 4th year PhD student in the Dept. of Anthropology and Geography. My research primarily focuses on how early humans moved around the landscape, how they used space, and their shifting relationship with large carnivores.  I have been lucky  enough to work at multiple different sites within Tanzania, and to work closely with African collaborators. Outside of my academic pursuits, I spend my time playing music and organizing for social justice with my fellow graduate students

What I Hope To Do

As my research focuses on the spatial aspects of human evolution, I am using mapping to understand large-scale questions about the early human response to ecological changes two million years ago. This summer I will be using a drone to survey and map my study site of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. I will be combining these maps and a large database of collected published data to build models that can be used to investigate how early human behavior changed through time at the site. I am keenly interested in how early humans and carnivores overlapped in space, and how our ancestors avoided predation while also trying to acquire meat through hunting and scavenging. It is my hope that my research will contribute new understandings of this time period, and can be applied to other sites in East Africa. I also hope that it can provide insights applicable to understanding human response to climate change and wildlife interactions today.

My Personal Thanks

I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity afforded to me as a recipient of this scholarship. I would like to extend a deepest thank you to the  funding donor(s) and everyone at the Africa Center for selecting me and my research.   I would also like to extend my appreciation to Michael Pante, my advisor, and to Kathy Galvin, the director of the Africa Center for their support and encouragement.