Research

To understand how human behavior evolved, we must first build tools capable of seeing it. My research sits at this critical intersection, where paleoanthropology meets mathematics and computation. I ask what new insights about behavioral patterns can be revealed from the archaeological and fossil record when we innovate in ways that no single discipline could on its own. I have built a collaborative community where scholars, across these disciplines and at varying career stages, are opening new analytical frontiers through the independent, international research consortium Anthropological and Mathematical Analysis of Archaeological and Zooarchaeological Evidence (AMAAZE) and the University of Minnesota based AMAAZE-labs.

The driving motivation of my work is to better understand how diachronic changes in human behavior emerged through evolving human-environmental interactions. As a paleoanthropologist specializing in vertebrate taphonomy and zooarchaeology, I first approached this question through hominin subsistence, examining how early humans accessed marrow in competition with large carnivores and how this behavior informed the later shift to hunting animals larger than themselves (a uniquely human behavior among primates). Identifying these behavioral changes sets the foundation to pursue more profound evolutionary questions about sociality, cognition, and changing life histories and biology. This early work revealed key methodological limitations and bottlenecks which my research program now addresses by developing tools for data digitization and 3D shape analysis that are capable of extracting behavioral signals from archaeological and fossil materials. Designed to be integrated across material types, sites, and time periods, these higher precision tools expand our capacity to robustly process and analyze large datasets at an accelerated rate, thus improving our ability to pursue large-scale questions about our human past.

Education and Community

Responsive pedagogy has always been deeply rewarding to me. Whether in a university classroom or an informal venue, I am keenly aware of people's uncertainties coming into educational settings and I find that when my instructional approach adapts to the realities of the educational context, it removes external barriers to education that students so often mistake for personal inadequacy, and transforms hesitation into engagement and empowerment. Thus, I iteratively reflect on my pedagogical approach and challenge my perspectives on how students interact with their educational experience, remaining sensitive to the fact that our backgrounds, circumstances, and resources are so varied. That motivational belief has led me to seek out a wide variety of educational contexts. I am comfortable teaching across formats, including online, in-person, standard classrooms (big and small), and public venues and I adapt to the mode of delivery and to the broader context shaping students’ experiences.

My approach to teaching and mentoring starts with building trust. I want students to feel safe enough to dig in, to question, to make mistakes, and to grow. Students have a more enriching experience when they can bring who they are and their own creative energy to the project in a meaningful way. (And, a bit selfishly, I find this highly rewarding and fulfilling.) Thus, in my lab, I make a point of inviting students into the research process itself, not just as assistants but as contributors. I look for opportunities for them to co-author papers, design their own synergistic projects, or build tools that extend the work in directions I might never have imagined.

I also think about learning as something that shouldn’t stop at the edge of a university. I value community and public spaces and programs where people can meet science and research as something relevant to their own lives. That’s what led me to start Science and Social Studies Adventures (SASSAk12), an educational nonprofit that is building a better future by making connections between what happens in research and society. SASSAk12 connects diverse K–12 students and educators with active researchers to engage in community-based education and research.

Regardless of whether I am in the classroom, the lab, or engaging with the community, for me, it’s about creating entry points at every level —- for kids, educators, undergraduates, new graduate students, and an interested public —- and making the work as transparent and inviting as possible.