How To Do Science: Meet Our Team

Jingchun Li
I study how animal species change over time, especially through partnerships with other living things (called symbiosis). Most of my work focuses on sea creatures like clams, snails, and cockles, but we also study organisms that live in freshwater and on land. I use cool tools like DNA analysis, shape comparisons, and computer models to explore how these animals evolve, where they live, and how they interact with others. My goal is to understand the big story of life’s diversity!

William Taylor
I study ancient animal bones and use them to understand the relationships between people and their environments in the past! I do excavations in different areas of the world, looking for the bones of ancient animals, and the artifacts left behind by the people who raised or hunted them. By studying animal bones carefully in our lab, I use them to try and understand how animals changed from wild animals, like wolves, to domestic ones like cats and dogs. 

Barbara Spiecker
I am a deaf marine ecologist! I study the organisms that live in tidal ecosystems, at the edges of oceans—from plants and animals down to the tiniest algae! My work uses computers and math to understand how life in these areas is responding to climate change. 

Alicia Wooten
I am a biologist that studies immunology, or how the body responds to diseases, pathogens, and micro-organisms. I work in helping my university, Gallaudet, in planning and responding to diseases like COVID, and work with young scientists as they get training for their future careers!

Fernando Villanea
I am a scientist that studies ancient DNA—the invisible code that carries genetic instructions for all living plants and animals! I am a specialist in the study of ancient human ancestors that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, like Neanderthals, and use DNA from fossils to help understand how these ancient ancestors impact our lives today through DNA. 

Gerardo Gutierrez
I am an archaeologist who studies the ancient life and peoples of Mexico and Central America! I use special scientific tools, like spectrometry to understand the materials that ancient people used to make paints, dyes, books, and other amazing things. I use these and other clues to reconstruct the lives of ancient people, the way they lived, the way their societies worked, and how they responded to challenges and disasters. 

Amelia Dall
I am a deaf archaeologist who uses special mapping tools and software, called GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to understand the lives of ancient people. I am also an active educator and run popular channels on YouTube and Instagram where I teach about archaeology in ASL (American Sign Language). 

Carl Simpson
I am a geologist who studies the origins of life on Earth! I look for ancient fossils all around the world from the earliest chapters of the story of life, millions and millions of years ago. In my lab, I work with tiny organisms still alive today and try to understand how similar organisms might have evolved at the beginning of life on earth.  

Diana Quintero-Bisono
I am an archaeologist and museum specialist who studies the history and heritage of the ancient world, including my home of Puerto Rico. My research uses new technologies, like 3D scanning, to look at new ways to study and share ancient artifacts, especially the heritage of Native people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. 

Cecily Whitworth
I am an artist and a teacher. At Montana Family ASL, I work on projects to help deaf kids and their families learn ASL. I live in Montana with my enormous dog, Big.