Biological Anthropology Students:

 

 Please fill out the biography form so that we can add you to the list of current students in the department.

 

Anna Louise East
E-mail: aeast@unm.edu
Dissertation Committee: Jane E. Buikstra (Chair), Osbjorn M. Pearson, Patricia Crown, Lief Nelin, MD
Areas of interest: bioarchaeology, juvenile osteology, paleopathology, maternal-child health
Dissertation Topic: Reproduction & Prenatal Care in Arizona Prehistory: An Examination of Health in Perinates & Children at Grasshopper, Point of Pines, & Turkey Creek Pueblos
Carrie Rose Laughter
E-mail:
Web-Page: www.unm.edu/~rosemnky
Dissertation Committee: Jane Lancaster and Jeff Froehlich
Area of Interest Nonhuman primate behavioral ecology and evolution
Dissertation Topic: The evolution of female dominance: testing the role of sexual selection using the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) as a model
Tim Petersen
E-mail: timp@unm.edu
Dissertation Committee: Osbjorn Pearson
Areas of interest: paleoanthropology, skeletal biology
Dissertation Topic: My dissertation project concerns the level of variation in the cranial base of specimens assigned to Australopithecus africanus and whether the taxon should be split to reflect variation in this and other anatomical areas. I am also interested in applying this information to arguments about Plio-Pleistocene hominin phylogeny.
Jada Benn Torres
E-mail: jadab@unm.edu
Homepage: www.unm.edu/~jadab/research
Dissertation Committee: Anne Stone (adjunct faculty at UNM - located at Arizona State University), Osbjorn Pearson, Les Field, Laura Salter (Department of Mathematics and Statistics), Shiame Okunor (African American Studies Department), Rick Kittles (Howard University)
Areas of interest: Caribbean, anthropological genetics, population genetics, Caribbean history
Dissertation Topic: African Ancestry and Admixture in the Anglophone Caribbean.  In my dissertation I explore the genetic history of African-derived Caribbean populations as well as the microevolutionary forces affecting patterns of human diversity. Ancestry and admixture are examined in modern Caribbean populations using molecular genetic techniques.

Awards/

Honors:

 NSF Predoctoral Scholar, Gates Millenium Scholar
Bonnie Young
E-mail: jadab@unm.edu
Homepage: www.unm.edu/~jadab/research
Dissertation Committee: A. Magdalena Hurtado, Osbjorn M. Pearson
Areas of interest: Latin America- human biology, health and disease, epidemiology.

Awards/

Honors:

 Spuhler Award, University of New Mexico (2005)
Conference Presentations:

April 2004 Western Social Science Association 47th Annual Meeting-(moderator): “Gender Differences in Collegiate Prescription Polydrug Use.” Albuquerque, New Mexico

April 2004 Society for Applied Anthropology: “Spin Control: The Social Context of Collegiate Polydrug Use.” Santa Fe, New Mexico

 

July 2003 Monteverde Institute: “Occupational and Environmental Health of Coffee Growers in the Monteverde Region.” Monteverde, Costa Rica

Publications: “Spin Control”: The Social Context of Collegiate Polydrug Use (submitted for publication)