Graduate Students Yuti Gao, Kelsey Hoppes, Patrick McKenzie, and Nicholas Puente Receive Beverly Sears Awards

Graduate students Yuti Gao, Kelsey Hoppes, Patrick McKenzie, and Nicholas Puente  and receive Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant Program Awards.They will use the funding to continue their ongoing doctoral dissertation research and writing (see below for their topics).

Yuti Gao (Biological Anthropology, PhD in progress) -  Yuti's research is on the nonhuman primate oral microbiome.  The funding will help her finalize lab work for her dissertation's pilot study.

Kelsey Hoppes (Archaeology, PhD Candidate) - Kelsey's research is on identifying processes of coalescing of diverse groups and ethnogenesis of past GreatPlains and Midwest communities in North America.

Patrick McKenzie (Cultural Anthropology, PhD Candidate) - Patrick’s research focuses on how nested forms of marginalization manifest in two Bulgarian state institutions ostensibly dedicated to care: the public hospital and the refugee camp.

Nicholas Puente (Archaeology, PhD Candidate)-  Nicholas’s research explores how ancient Maya peoples engaged with subterranean caves during a period of frequent droughts. Caves are doorways to the underworld realm of ancestors and deities who can be petitioned for rain during times of stress. The funds will support fieldwork at the archaeological site of Punta Laguna, where two caves will be mapped and surface artifacts.