Pamela L. Pascali
Anthropology & Archaeology
I'm an MS Candidate at Idaho State University and National Science Foundation Fellow Studying Anthropology and the Archaeological Sciences.
Currently, I am working and gaining hands-on laboratory experience as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Archaeology, Materials and Applied Spectroscopy (CAMAS).
My 2020 summer research was aimed at expanding our current obsidian database to include northern Nevada in hopes of matching obsidian artifacts found within the Snake River Plain to their source locations, which likely extended to sources in the Great Basin.
With access to artifacts in the repository at the Idaho Museum of Natural History, I will start identifying matches between artifacts and material sources in the spring of 2021.
I am excited to announce that I have been awarded a National Science Foundation - Graduate Research Fellowship to explore my obsidian sourcing research studies at Idaho State University.
The National Science Foundation
ISU TRIO
McNair Scholars Program
ISU Office for Research
ISU Department of Anthropology
Award No. OIA-1757324
Funded or Supported through grants, scholarships, and internships by the above institutions.
Research Projects
Idaho StateUniversity &
Idaho State Board of Education
2021 Open Education Resources Week
As an ASISU Senate Representative, I recently worked with the ISU Open and Affordable Education Resources Committee to create and implement events for our ISU Faculty and Staff, along with a social media awareness campaign, dubbed "Textbook Tales", that highlighted how OER can be created, accessed, and implemented in the college classroom. I was specifically tasked with creating a student survey, polling ISU student leaders, hosting a virtual interview, and starting a student-led ASISU Resolution of support in favor of OAER in our classrooms. Through this project was I contacted and asked to be a participant on two student panels during the State Board of Education's OER week of activities. I extremely enjoyed being a part of these committees and the opportunity to work on these projects. In part, due to our efforts, Governor Brad Little has proclaimed March 1 - 6 to be Open Education Week!
This study builds on previous research to understand decomposition history through the comparison of taphonomic alterations of dental tissues by examining the specifics of the burial matrix at the site of final deposition.
How does Indigenizing spaces on college campuses affect student involvement and retention of indigenous student populations?
Expanding the Snake River Plain Obsidian Database to match geological sources to artifacts across the Snake River Plain.
The center’s primary mission is to provide high quality, cost-effective analytical services to Idaho State University student and faculty researchers, external academic researchers and limited contract and professional services to businesses serving environmental, ecological and cultural and natural resource management agencies.
To this end, CAMAS has established a fee structure that reflects a commitment to providing analytical services that are both accessible to external clientele and help offset the costs of undergraduate and graduate students doing original research in CAMAS’ affiliated labs.