Katina Lillios is an anthropological archaeologist interested in the ways people used (and use) material culture, the remains of the dead, and monuments to create, enhance, and challenge sociopolitical difference and inequality. She is intrigued by the ways that social phenomena and cultural values come to be materialized, and how their materiality triggers social action.

Brittany is currently a third year PhD student in sociocultural anthropology under the advisement of Dr. Theodore Powers. Her work is based in Freetown, Sierra Leone with those affected by the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic. Her preliminary research involved examining the long-term aftermath of home-based quarantine on economic and social relationships. Her dissertation research will work with Ebola survivors in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Currently, Margaret Beck works with Native American ceramics, focusing on the Great Plains and adjacent U.S. Southwest and the characterization of ceramic pastes (including petrographic analysis). As an anthropological archaeologist, she's drawn to ceramics because they relate to so many aspects of people’s lives. These include cuisine and food preparation and serving technology; craft learning traditions within families and communities; and use of local resources and movement with a physical and social landscape.

Elana Buch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. A sociocultural, medical, and applied anthropologist, Dr. Buch received her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan's Joint Program in Social Work and Social Science (Anthropology).  She is broadly interested in the ways that large scale sociocultural changes shape and are shaped by everyday practice and intimate relationships and how these together generate forms of social difference and inequality.

Most of Michael Chibnik's work has been the subfield of economic anthropology. He has conducted fieldwork on household economics, agricultural decision-making, craft production, and work organization in Belize, Peru, Mexico, and various parts of the United States. Other topical interests include agricultural systems, artisans, ethnicity, development, transnationalism, research methods (especially statistics), and the history of anthropology.

Cynthia Chou is a socio-cultural anthropologist with teaching and research interest across all Southeast Asia. Her specific area of expertise is the Malay World.

Russell Ciochon is a biological anthropologist with research interests in Asia (specifically Southeast Asia). His research involves characterizing the initial migrations of early Homo into this region about 1.6 mya. These investigations of the evolution of Homo erectus are cross-disciplinary, encompassing the study and discovery of human fossil remains, as well as use of paleoecological and geochronologic methods in the Sangiran Dome, Java (Indonesia).

Dr. Doershuk is an archaeologist who works at UI in the role of State Archaeologist of Iowa, directing the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA), a research center on campus established in 1959. Dr. Doershuk’s research on Iowa and midcontinental archaeology spans all time periods and cultural adaptations. In addition to his OSA Director activities, Dr. Doershuk works with undergraduate and graduate student assistants from many UI departments, including those supported by externally and internally funded grants and contracts as well as through independent studies, as volunteers, and as part of graduate committees.

James G. Enloe is an archaeologist working on the Paleolithic of the Old World. His interest centers on the transition from archaic Homo sapiens to anatomically modern humans and on subsequent behavioral changes through the end of the Pleistocene.

Robert Franciscus' research program focuses on the Middle and Later Pleistocene periods of genus Homo evolution. He is particularly interested in the evolutionary significance of the distinctive Neandertal craniofacial pattern and the possible developmental, biomechanical, and stochastic models underlying its evolution over time in Europe and western Asia. He is also interested in the origins of modern humans and the definitional problems associated with the concept of anatomical “modernity.”

Laura R. Graham is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on Indigenous agency and the politics of representation among Indigenous peoples of Lowland South America. She has carried out long-term field research among the A’uwẽ-Xavante of central Brazil and among Wayuu peoples of Venezuela.

Brady G'sell's research examines the intersection of citizenship, kinship, and economy in the everyday lives of South African families. As the availability of wage labor declines globally, she researches how women rework the obligations entailed by kinship and citizenship in order to combat their social and economic insecurity.

Matthew E. Hill's research is informed by the principles of historical ecology, which attempts to integrate the notions of ecology and the environment as central themes in the study of human societies. His work focuses on landscape-scale processes of human-environment interactions expressed in long-term behavioral changes (spanning from the end of the Ice Age to the historic period) across various environmental settings (Great Plains grasslands, Rocky Mountains, Desert Southwest).

Noah is now in the process of completing his doctoral dissertation in sociocultural anthropology under the advisement of Dr. Scott Schnell. Earlier in life, he received his BA (2002) from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, and then worked in the private sector and in secondary education before returning to academic studies in 2011.  For his Master's degree (May 2013) Noah conducted research in Okinawa, Japan, studying karate as a localized cultural practice that has become an international phenomenon by working with transnational karate practitioners.

Steven is a PhD student advised by Dr. Margaret Beck. He studies Woodland Period (2500-1000 BP) archaeology in North America. Steven’s dissertation research focuses on the ceramic technology, chronology, and social complexity of the widespread Hopewell phenomenon of the Middle Woodland Period (2100–1600 BP). He is investigating the timing and ritual contexts of association for Hopewell ceramics in the Lower Mississippi and Arkansas River valleys. His research aims to broaden social theory applied to the interregional social interactions that led to the widespread appearance of Hopewell artifact design styles and ceremonial practices among diverse Woodland communities.

Dr. Kelly is an associate research scientist in the UI College of Public Health where he is Deputy Director of the Healthier Workforce Center. He is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of Open Anthropological Research, Publisher: De Gruyter, Poland; and Editorial Board of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), Switzerland.

Meena Khandelwal is best known for her pioneering research on Hindu celibacy and monastic life that puts gender at the center. Her book Women in Ochre Robes (SUNY Press 2004) focuses on the everyday lives of women initiated into sannyasa – one of several traditions of Hindu renunciation. These women walk away from marriage, family ties, wealth, caste, and professional status for a life of celibacy and spiritual discipline. Paradoxically, sannyasa is a monastic tradition created by and for elite men, but claims to transcend gender – in part because ‘the soul’ is neither male nor female.

Caleb Klipowicz is a doctoral student in sociocultural anthropology advised by Dr. Erica Prussing. He graduated from the University of Memphis in 2016 with a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a concentration in Medical Anthropology.

Addison is a PhD candidate specializing in Historical Archaeology. He graduated summa cum laude from Miami University in 2010, with a BA in History and a minor in Anthropology, and completed his MA in Anthropology at Northwestern University in 2012. Addison has conducted fieldwork in the Caribbean and has also worked in cultural resource management in the U.S. He is interested in the archaeology and ethnohistory of the American Midwest, particularly in the lived experiences of Native people during the era of Indian Removal. In 2016, Addison was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support his graduate studies.

Drew Kitchen is an anthropological geneticist with interests in human population history and the origins of human infectious disease. He uses an evolutionary perspective to investigate the processes that have produced observed, modern distributions of human genetic and pathogen/parasite diversity. To do this, he primarily employs computational methods (e.g., phylogenetics, population genetics, and simulation) to the analysis of novel and publicly available genetic and cultural data.

Dr. Lensink is Associate Director of the Office of the State Archaeologist.

Ellen Lewin has devoted her career to examining a range of questions that center on motherhood, reproduction, and sexuality, particularly as these are played out in American cultures.  In particular, she's interested in how people in “impossible” cultural situations understand and manage their identities. Over the course of my career, she has completed studies that focus on low-income Latina immigrants in San Francisco, lesbian mothers, lesbian and gay commitment ceremonies in the U.S., and gay fatherhood.

Max Lieberman is a PhD student in cultural anthropology advised by Dr. Scott Schnell. He graduated with a BA in English literature and minor in anthropology from Pennsylvania State University in 2011. His research focuses on the relationships between people and wildlife, specifically concerning the bison herds of Yellowstone National Park.

Dr. Liu is the Associate Director of the UI's Center for Asian and Pacific Studies.

Kerri Lorigan is completing her doctoral dissertation in archaeology, with a focus on Greco-Roman Egypt, under the guidance of Dr. Glenn Storey. She received both her B.A. in history and B.S. in anthropology from Middle Tennessee State University, and her M.A. in history, with a concentration in Ancient Egypt, from the University of Memphis in 2015. She has conducted field work at the Mississippian site of Castalian Springs, and in the ancient cemetery of Abydos in Egypt. Her dissertation research is focusing on urban experience in ancient Egypt. She is currently working as an adjunct professor at Austin Peay State University and will be conducting archival research on ancient Egyptian towns this summer.

Natalie Luna-Renek is a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow working towards her Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology with an emphasis on the Anthropology of Religion, under the guidance of Dr. Scott Schnell. Natalie received her B.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Fullerton, in 2010 and her M.A. in Cultural Anthropology again from California State University, Fullerton, in 2012. Her thesis research focused on the dream and spirit theories of Native Hawaiians living in Southern California. Natalie's dissertation research expands upon her previous work. She is examining how Native Hawaiian animism is sustained away from the islands of Hawai’i and how Christianity changes when exposed to animism. Natalie is currently serving as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.

Dr. Heidi Lung has led the University of Iowa’s museum studies certificate program since 2015. In addition to teaching and advising students in the program, Dr. Lung works with the Office of Outreach and Engagement to connect students with professional learning experiences in museums throughout the state.

Logan is an anthropology Ph.D student focusing on biological anthropology advised by Dr. Robert Franciscus. Logan received a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from Illinois State University in 2018. His research interested in craniofacial anatomy and craniofacial development of Middle to Late Pleistocene hominins.

Scott is a Ph.D. student in cultural anthropology advised by Dr. Emily Wentzell. He graduated with honors in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies and Anthropology from Grinnell College in 2015. He has conducted fieldwork in Chicago, Illinois, and Berlin, Germany, and is interested in the way that collective memories of the AIDS epidemic shape contemporary debates about HIV in Europe and North America. Specifically, his interest in memories of AIDS relates to queer experiences with sexuality, public sex, mass death, and public health policy.

Ted Powers is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the dynamics of health, politics, and social inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. Building on conceptual approaches from medical anthropology, the anthropology of transnationalism, political economy, and African studies, his work focuses on the politics of health and society in post-apartheid South Africa.

Victoria Priola is an anthropology Ph.D. student focusing in archaeology advised by Dr. Katina Lillios. She graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a minor in History. Victoria’s area of study is prehistoric European archeology. Her interests address textile and craft production as well as gender.

Erica Prussing is a medical anthropologist whose research examines the cultural politics of defining and addressing social inequalities in health, especially within indigenous communities. Her projects are frequently interdisciplinary, and emphasize combining anthropology with public health (especially through “cultural epidemiology,” which aims to culturally situate both the causes of health problems and the production of epidemiological knowledge).

Scott Schnell's research combines anthropology and history to facilitate a better understanding of sociocultural processes over time. For several years, he conducted ethnographic fieldwork in the town of Furukawa, located in the northern portion of Gifu Prefecture in central Japan. This culminated in a book entitled "The Rousing Drum: Ritual Practice in a Japanese Community" (University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999), which explores the use of ritual as a forum for negotiating sociopolitical and economic change.

Glenn Storey has two trends of current interest: 1) continuing research on the demography of ancient cities, especially of the Greco-Roman world, focusing on both the scale of gross population sizes combined with special attention to possible demographic reconstruction through funerary population analysis; 2) investigation of the economy of the Roman world, in the framework of world systems analysis, focusing on the evidence of artifacts as found in both Nijmegen, the Netherlands (site of a Roman legionary camp/city foundation) and a new site in central Sicily, Gangivecchio (a possible Greco-Roman cult site).

Ariane is a biological anthropology doctoral student advised by Dr. Andrew Kitchen.  Her research explores past human behavior and its impact on the environment through the analysis of non-human genomes.  Her dissertation uses the genomes of North American indigenous dogs to investigate their role as a trading commodity among past Native American populations and as a proxy for human migration within the Western Hemisphere.

Corinne is an archaeology graduate student under the advisement of Dr. Katina Lillios. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Emory University in 2016 and a Master of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Leicester in 2019. Her work explores connections between landscape archaeology, environmental engagement, and materiality in Prehistoric Atlantic Europe.