Graduate Students

The anthropology department has a vibrant graduate student community. Graduate students regularly host brown-bag talks and colloquia, as well as engaging in research and teaching undergraduate courses.

Name Anthropology Sub-field Research Specialties
Easlin Anderson Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Yige Bao
bao00061@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD ZooMS (Zooarchaeology of Mass Spectrometry); microarchaeology; middle paleolithic Balkans Peninsula; Neanderthal subsistence; paleodiet; zooarchaeology; taphonomy, paleoenvironment
Akashleena Basu
she/her/hers
basu0040@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD anthropology of religion; anthropology of the body and senses; multispecies studies; philosophical anthropology
Selena Bernier
she/her/hers
wimme066@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD indigenous North American archaeology, Minnesota precontact archaeology, glacial geology, copper materials, ancient mining practices, archaeological ethics and repatriation
Yessica Berumen Martinez
she/her/hers
berum007@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD Latinx diaspora archaeology, material culture studies, migration/mobility, heritage studies, memory and forgetting, oral histories
Emily Briggs
she/her/hers
brigg184@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD North American archaeology, isotope analyses (87Sr/86Sr, d18O), indigenous archaeology, repatriation and restorative archaeological practices
Nathan Buckley
buckl317@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD political anthropology, sovereignty, everyday geopolitics, critical European studies, Gibraltar, queer theory
Berkant Caglar Sociocultural Anthropology PhD queer anthropology; court ethnography; denialism; legal & political anthropology; reproductivity; temporality
Miguel Angel Contreras Sieck
contr223@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD
Phenotype-genotype interactions, quantitative genetics, ancient DNA, ethical research and data sharing in biological anthropology, virtual anthropology
Deniz Coral Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Kadir Yavuz Emiroglu Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Yun Feng
feng0154@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD e-commerce villages/towns, digital technology, algorithm, land policy, housing land loss of rural women, platform capitalism, rurality, family workshop
Samantha Gogol
she/her/hers
gogol006@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD  
Leonie Gussone
gusso009@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD primate behavioral ecology, movement ecology, competition, intergroup conflict, effects of environmental and anthropogenic change
Abigail Hall
she/her/hers
Biological Anthropology PhD  
Muhammad Osama Imran Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Peter Johnson
joh13533@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD agribusiness, development, ecology, settler colonialism
Penina Kadalida
kadal002@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD  
Fa'aumu Kaimana
she/her/hers
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Esther Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Panchen Lo
lo000142@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD
queer and trans studies, feminist anthropology, transnational feminism, temporalities
Risa Luther
she/her/hers
luthe067@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD paleoanthropology, primate dietary ecology, dental topographic analyses, tooth wear, human and primate evolution, eastern Africa, inclusive science communication
Rania Madani Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Vasilije Marojevic
maroj003@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD hunter-gatherer archaeology, Mediterranean prehistory, lithic raw material studies, lithic technology, Neanderthal behavior, landscape archaeology 
Annie Melton
she/her/hers
melto041@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD lithic technology, middle to upper Paleolithic transition, cultural transmission, digital archaeology, near Eastern prehistory
Pranav Menon
Pra-nav
he/they/them
menon126@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD intersections of legal anthropology, anthropology of Islam and caste, environmental humanities, human non human relations, forest governance and legal geographies
Sophie Minor
she/her/hers
minor109@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD historical archaeology, enslavement in the midwest, preservation and representation
Megan Moore Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Samuel Muteti
mutet002@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD  
Thanzeel Nazer  Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Emmanuel Kipruto Ngetich Biological Anthropology PhD  
Laura Pott
pott0195@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD human population genetics, evolutionary genomics, admixture, ancient DNA
Stephen Savignano Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Samantha Schwartz
she/her/hers
schw2534@umn.edu
Archaeology PhD Korean diaspora archaeology, landscape, gender, multi-ethnic communities, United States
MaryGrace Trifilio
she/her/hers
trifi005@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD kinship and care, eldercare policy, critical disability studies, medical carcerality, and urban life
Madelaine Walker
she/her/hers
walke845@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD life history and paleoecology of early Miocene catarrhines, primate paleobiology
Annika Yates
yates104@umn.edu
Sociocultural Anthropology PhD anthropology of sport, atmosphere, Vietnam
Wei Ye Sociocultural Anthropology PhD  
Jaime Zolik
zolik006@umn.edu
Biological Anthropology PhD