Benjamin Akey: akeybenj@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Research Assistant
Historical Archaeology, Diasporic Identities & the Politics of Belonging, Transnationalism, Exclusion & Racialization, Subject Formation, Social Reproduction theory, Processes/History of Capitalism, Company Towns, Collective Agency and Resistance, Temperance and Prohibition, Collaborative and Emancipatory Archaeologies, Critical Cultural Heritage
John Boyd: boydjoh1@msu.edu
He/him
Doctoral Candidate (only if All But Dissertation)
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellow – African Studies Center (2019-2021)
Sociocultural Anthropology of the North Africa & its diaspora, Social Movements, Youth & Identity, Sport & Society, Ultras & Soccer Fandom, Urbanity
Jeffrey Burnett: burne138@msu.edu
He/him
Doctoral Candidate (only if All But Dissertation)
Graduate Assistant
Historical archaeology, African Diaspora, race in history, identity and power, collaborative and community archaeology, historiography
Kevin Cabrera: cabrer60@msu.edu
Ph.D. Student
Bioarchaeology, Ancient Maya, Gender and Identity, Dental Anthropology, Human Osteology, Mortuary Studies
Jerielle Cartales: cartales@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral student
Graduate Assistant
CAP Fellow 24-25
Human skeletal biology, forensic anthropology, blunt force trauma, falls from height, juvenile osteology, ethics and professionalism, pedagogy in forensic anthropology
Ashley Cerku: cerkuash@msu.edu
Doctoral Candidate
Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellow 2024-2025
Graduate Assistant, LEADR 2023-2024
Teaching Assistant 2021-2023
Research Assistant 2020-2021
Digital Cultural Heritage, Visual Anthropology, Historical Photography, Heritage Tourism, Ethnography, Semiotic Landscapes, Augmented Reality
Jarad Cornett: cornett4@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Graduate Assistant: LEADR 24-25
Indonesia, State Violence, Forced Migration, Islam in Southeast Asia, Political and Legal Anthropology, Human Rights, Religious and Political Radicalism, Conflict Trauma
Hailee Desrosier: desros13@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant
Post-traumatic survival time, subadult trauma, histological methods in assessing bone trauma, and influences on bone due to external environmental and social factors.
Jessica Ding: jlding@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Student, MD Ph.D. Program
Graduate Teaching Assistant
NIH F30 Fellowship (2025 – 2030)
Medical Anthropology, Integrative Medical Systems, Acupuncture, China and the Chinese Diaspora, Public Health, Chronic Pain, Palliative Care, Physician-Patient Relationships, Health Systems Science
Mari Dowling: dowlin37@msu.edu
DO-PhD Student
Medical Anthropology, Political Economy, Drug Policy, Medicalization
Livy Drexler: drexlero@msu.edu
They/them, she/hers
Doctoral Candidate (only if All But Dissertation)
Graduate Assistant
Disability studies, special education, Native American and Indigenous studies, ethnography, visual methods
Rhian Dunn: dunnrhia@msu.edu
Doctoral Candidate
Forensic anthropology, Human variation, Ancestry estimation, Skeletal biology, Human rights
Grace Shu Gerloff: gerloffg@msu.edu
Doctoral Candidate
Asian Pacific American Studies Fellow 2024-2025
Transnational Asian Adoption, Transracial Adoption, Critical Adoption Studies, Sociocultural Anthropology, Asian American Studies, Social Media Ethnography, Photovoice
Brian Samuel Geyer: geyerbri@msu.edu
Doctoral Candidate
Former Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellow
Sociocultural anthropology, East Africa, Political economy, Identity, International development, Digital anthropology, Cultural heritage
Alexis Goots: gootsale@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant
Forensic Anthropology, Bioarchaeology, Skeletal Trauma, Ancestry Estimation, Human Variation
Savannah Holcombe: holcom77@msu.edu
Graduate Assistant, Teaching Assistant
Forensic Anthropology, Human Variation, Macromorphoscopic Traits, Population Affinity, Human Rights, Sexual Dimorphism
Gungun Islam: islamgun@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Student
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Medical Anthropology, Reproductive Health, State Violence, Muslim Women, Resistance, Religious Marginalization, Healthcare Discrimination.
Brett Jackson: jack1665@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Indigenous Archaeology, Historical Ecology, Zooarchaeology, Great Basin and California Archaeology, Archaeological Methods, Indigenous Stewardship, Nutritional Ecology, Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction
Priyanka Jayakodi: jayakodi@msu.edu
Ph.D. Candidate
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Medical Anthropology; Environmental Anthropology; Anthropology of Water; State Violence
Amelia Konda: kondaame@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Research Assistant
Forensic Anthropology, Biological Profile, Human Variation, Population Affinity Estimation, Age Estimation
Rylee LaLonde: lalond59@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant: Bioarchaeology Lab 24-25
Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellow 2024-25
Native American and Indigenous Studies, Bioarcheology, NAGPRA, Human Rights Investigation, Indigenous Rights, Community-Based Research, Forensic Art, Reclamation and Revisioning
Holly Long: longhol1@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant
Forensic Laboratory Manager, 2023-2024; NAGPRA Researcher, 2024-2025
Peruvian Bioarchaeology, Commingled Remains, Forensic Anthropology, Human Rights, Mass Disasters
Aubree Marshall: marsh537@msu.edu
They/she
Doctoral Candidate (only if All But Dissertation)
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Bioarchaeology, Skeletal Biology, Ancient Maya, Ancient Health and Diet, Microbotanicals, Proteomics, Photogrammetry and Structured Light 3D Modeling, Digital Cultural Heritage
Madelyn McKinney: mckin289@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Teaching Assistant
Historical Archaeology, Cemeteries, Representation, Identity, Archaeology of Childhood, Historical Memory, Institutions and Institutionalization, Memory and Memorialization, Collaborative and Community Archaeology, Ethnography, Critical Cultural Heritage
Emily Milton: miltone2@msu.edu
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology
Environmental Science and Policy Program Fellow
Visiting Researcher, Biogeology Lab, University of Tübingen, Germany
environmental, alpine, and desert archaeology, Ice Age archaeology, the Anthropocene, historical ecology, feminist methods and theories, isotopes & baselines, radiocarbon chronologies, spatial datasets, the Wes Anderson R palette, museum collections research
Diana Mogrovejo: mogrove1@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant, DHI Lab
Digital Archaeology, Difficult Heritage, Public Archaeology, Human Rights, Andean Archaeology
Monica Nares: naresmon@msu.edu
Forensic Anthropology
Research Assistant
Forensic Anthropology, Human Osteology, Ancestry, Personal Identification
Emily Nisch: nisch@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Graduate Research Assistant
Digital archaeology, Native American Boarding Schools, Community engaged digital heritage, Memory and memorialization, Preservation and access, 3D models (photogrammetry and structured light)
Juan Carlos Rico Noguera: riconogu@msu.edu
Ph.D. candidate
Editorial assistant MSU Press.
Peacebuilding, memory politics, identity, politics of representation, expertise, the State, ideology, democracy, social movements, digital humanities
Kiana Sakimehr: sakimehr@msu.edu
PhD Candidate
Teaching/Research Assistant
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow – African Studies Center
The American Institute of Afghanistan Studies Fellow
Sociocultural Anthropology, Afghanistan, Anthropology of Emotions, Construction of Emotions, Migration and Transnationalism, Emotional Transnationality, Emotional Self, Transitions in Emotions, Refugee and Displacement, Diaspora Studies
Devashish Saurav: sauravde@msu.edu
Graduate Assistant
I am interested is in exploring how communities live on the land, and maintains relationship with the landscape. My research focuses on the human/non-human interactions by centering it around the resource use and resource management patterns.
Sara Tahir: tahirsar@msu.edu
Doctoral Student, Sociocultural Anthropology
Teaching Assistant: ANP 200, 321 and ISS 210, 315, 320
Research Assistant: Spring 2017
Anthropology of South Asia, Anthropology of migration, Transnationalism, Diaspora studies, Post colonialism, Orientalism, Kinship, Personhood, Subjectivities, Consumerism, Individualism, Gender
Jodi Terpstra: terpst28@msu.edu
Medical Anthropology, Native American and Indigenous Health, Spirituality, Anthropology of Death, Dying and End of Life Care
Alexis VanBaarle: vanbaarl@msu.edu
She/her(s)
Doctoral Student
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Forensic Anthropology Laboratory
Forensic Anthropology, Skeletal Biology, Skeletal Histology, Skeletal Trauma Biomechanics, Human Anatomy, Radiographic Identification, Applied Artificial Intelligence
Kelsey Merreck Wagner: wagne308@msu.edu
Ph.D. Candidate & Department Research Assistant
Environmental anthropology, More-than-human political ecology, Visual anthropology, Interspecies relationships, Human-elephant conflict, Community-based conservation, Social & environmental justice, Activist art, Thailand, Cambodia
Emma Zblewski: zblewski@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Candidate, MD Ph.D. Program
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Medical anthropology, United States healthcare system, patient activism, online biosocial communities, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), long COVID-19, harm reduction, LGBTQIA+ healthcare
Gabrielle Moran-O’Dell: morangab@msu.edu
She/her
Doctoral Student
Graduate Assistant
Kooskia RA ’23-’24; ANP 203 TA ’24; LEADR ’25
Michigan Holocene Archaeology, Great Lakes Archaeology, Geophysical Technology and Methodology, Native American and Indigenous Archaeology
Andrew Kracinski: kracinsk@msu.edu
Doctoral Student
Research Assistant
Historical Archaeology, Contemporary Archaeology, Archaeology of Institutional Confinement, Conflict Archaeology.