I’m a senior anthropology
major with a biology minor, and my research deals with the intersection of
those two disciplines. I conduct bioarchaeological research analyzing spatial
analysis of demographic and health data in a medieval Danish cemetery. The
reason I became interested in this research stems from my original goals when I
started university. I’ve always loved archaeology, but I did not think that
pursuing a career in it would be possible as I knew nothing of the current
field. So, I started at GMU on the pre-med track, and I wanted to be a doctor.
I was and still am very interested in health and pathology, but I realized that
I was more interested in studying larger trends of health over time, with
respect to how infectious diseases evolve alongside us. Couple that interest
with a few archaeology classes and an infectious disease class with Dr. Bethany
Usher and I had found my niche, bioarchaeology.
To conduct my research I
spend my time translating handwritten Danish notes on the excavation of the
cemetery I am studying, and then formatting that data into excel files grouped
by specific demographic (age/sex) and health factors (cribra orbitalia/linear
enamel hypoplasia). I then use SaTScantm to spatially analyze this
data. I spend a lot of time running this software. This is really fantastic
experience for my future career however, because I am obtaining hands on skills
analyzing and interpreting data specific to my field. I have been able to
directly utilize what I am learning in my classes to conduct research. This has
helped me to see the connection between what I am learning in class and how it
applies to the real world. More so than that, there is nothing more fulfilling
that being able to add something to the greater scope of knowledge, and
researching has allowed me to do just that. Participating in undergraduate
research has prepared me for my career, and it doesn’t hurt that it looks great
on a resume.
