Department of Anthropology

Abigail Bigham
Ph.D.

Graduated:
Fall 2008

Current CV

Advisor:
Mark Shriver

Dissertation Research: Dr. Bigham's dissertation research focused on identifying signatures of natural selection in two high altitude human groups, Andeans and Tibetans.

Current Position: She is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Michael Bamshad at the University of Washington.  Dr. Bigham's current research focuses on understanding how evolutionary processes such as natural selection and human demographic history shape patterns of genetic variation in human populations. 

Cheryl Hill
Ph.D.

Graduated:
Fall 2008

Current CV

Advisor:
Joan Richtsmeier

Dissertation Research: Dr. Hill's dissertation research examined the air-filled spaces (pneumatization) within the temporal bone. Using high-resolution computed tomography scans, she studied the development and evolution of these spaces in samples of humans, apes and fossil hominids.

Current Position: Dr. Hill is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Kristina Aldridge's lab at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Her current research focuses on the morphology of the brain in craniofacial and neurodevelopmental disorders. She is continuing to study evolutionary changes in the temporal bone.

Eric Jones
Ph.D.

Graduated:
Fall 2008

Current CV

Advisor:
Dean Snow

Dissertation Research: Dr. Jones' dissertation examined the population history and settlement ecology of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He used settlement area to estimate population sizes for four of the five nations of the Haudenosaunee. The results showed a 66% decrease in overall population as a result of contact with Europeans, considerable variability in population trends between the nations, frequent migration episodes, and pre-contact depopulation events. He conducted the settlement ecology research in a GIS using various measurement and spatial analysis tools. The results indicated that Haudenosaunee communities chose village locations based on a complex set of factors including access to transportation routes.

Current Position: Dr. Jones is currently work as a lecturer for SUNY Cortland teaching a course on human evolution and survival. In July 2009, he will begin a full-time appointment as a lecturer at Wake Forest University. Dr. Jones will be teaching several courses covering topics ranging from introduction to archaeology to the anthropology of sports. He is developing a new research project to study Haudenosaunee population at a more detailed scale that will involve undergraduate students, Haudenosaunee people, and local non-Native residents.

Samuel Sholtis
Ph.D.

Graduated:
Fall 2008

Current CV

Advisor:
Ken Weiss

Dissertation Research: Dr. Sholtis' dissertation research used evolutionary and developmental genetics to investigate the relationship between genotype and phenotype and the patterning of complex morphological traits using the mammalian dentition as a model system.

Current Position: He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Jim Noonan’s laboratory in the Department of Genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Sholtis' current research involves the functional analysis of conserved non-coding DNA sequences that show accelerated evolution along the human lineage.  These sequences often function in regulating the timing and spatial domain of expression of nearby genes.  Changes in their sequence during human evolution may have led to human-specific patterns of gene expression and aspects of human-specific biology.

Additional students that have recently completed their degrees include:

DOMBROSKI, Daniel (IUG Student) – M.A., Spring 2009 (Advised by Professor Dean Snow)

PERCIVAL, Christopher – M.A. (Masters Along the Way), Spring 2009 (Advised by Professor Joan Richtsmeier)

STARBUCK, John – M.A., (Masters Along the Way), Spring 2009 (Advised by Professor Joan Richtsmeier)

DeLEON, Jason – Ph.D., Fall 2008 (Advised by Professor Kenneth Hirth)

GORALSKI, Craig – Ph.D., Fall 2008 (Advised by Professor Kenneth G. Hirth)

LAWSON, Heather – Ph.D., Summer 2008 (Advised by Professor Kenneth M. Weiss)

SCHEFFLER, Timothy – Ph.D., Spring 2008 (Advised by Professor Kenneth Hirth)