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Welcome! I am an anthropological archaeologist and archaeobotanist with interests in food production systems, historical ecology, niche construction, and social change. I am an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
My research methods focus on phytolith and plant macroremain analysis, especially concerning the application of phytoliths to interpretation of the archaeological record. I completed my PhD in Anthropology at the University of Oregon in 2015. In my dissertation, Food Production, Environment, and Culture in the Tropical Pacific: Evidence for Prehistoric and Historic Plant Cultivation in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, I use archaeological landscape survey, along with ancient and modern botanical data, to examine managed agroforests in the Pacific. From 2015 to 2019, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar in Professor Li Liu’s laboratory at Stanford University. Recently, I have been working on projects in Micronesia, China, and elsewhere, while continuing to use phytolith, plant macroremain, and starch analysis to study ancient plant cultivation systems.