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  
Sean Devlin Archaeology 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  
Kelly Plevniak
she/her/hers
Archaeology 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