MENTORSHIP

CURRENT POSITION: Liz is a third year PhD candidate at the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology (CASHP). She studies sifaka lemurs population genomics and hair diversity.

UNDERGRAD: Liz went to Florida International University and obtained a B.S. in Biological Sciences. She did her undergraduate thesis on behavior of captive owl monkeys.

MASTERS: Liz went to Florida Atlantic University and obtained an M.A. in a four-field Anthropology department. Her master’s thesis was on the pigmentation of fur in a group of monkeys in Gombe National Park, Tanzania.

FIELDWORK: Liz completed two field seasons in Gombe National Park, Tanzania for her master’s thesis: (1) 5-month long season, (1) 2-week long season. She also completed two field seasons in Madagascar, at two different rainforest sites (Tsinjoarivo and Ranomafana) in the summers of 2017 and 2018.

JOBS: Liz started work as a veterinary technician, and since then has worked a variety of teaching jobs with youth. She has TA’d graduate level classes for 8 semesters, at two different graduate programs. She had one job at Staples copy-center too!

OTHER: Liz has experience writing grants, publications, and presenting talks/posters at conferences. Liz has experience with coming back from academic setbacks in undergrad.

Looking for: mentees, and interns interested in (1) primate diversity and adaptation, (2) GIS, and/or (3) genomics.

CURRENT POSITION: Kristen is a PhD student at the Center for the Advanced Study for Human Paleobiology (CASHP). She studies the impact of early life adversity, such as droughts and maternal rank, in the internal microstructure of bone in wild old world primates. Her research involves field and lab work, histology, and microscopy.

UNDERGRAD: She first attempted college at a community college before dropping out in her second quarter. She eventually did accomplished staying in college after many years and completed three AAs in Anthropology, Social and Behavioral Science, and Arts and Humanities. She transferred to UC Berkeley and obtained a BA in Anthropology.

FIELDWORK: Kristen has done fieldwork at East Cronise Lake, a Paleo-Indian site in California, at Dali, an Early Bronze Age site in Kazakhstan, Yaxuná, a Mayan site in Yucatán, Mexico, and the human evolution-oriented Koobi Fora field school in Kenya. She has also done paleontology fieldwork at Rainbow Ridge in California, a mid-Miocene site.

JOBS: Kristen has had many non-academic jobs since she was 14 until she was 23, including house cleaner, baker, barista, dog walker, retail worker, and food service worker. At UC Berkeley, she held multiple part-time jobs, including working as an archaeology and osteology research assistant at the Phoebe Hearst Anthropology Museum. During her two gap years between undergrad and grad school, Kristen worked at a paleontology museum as a collections assistant while also working as a multi-subject tutor at a community college and at a men’s state prison. Currently, she is a TA for Intro to Bio Anthro.

OTHER: Kristen has experience writing a senior honors thesis, graduate school application, fieldwork applications, and conference poster presentations. She is also has a lot of experience in navigating school, work, and the field with an LD.

LOOKING FOR: mentees, long-term interns interested in bone biology

CURRENT POSITION: Sean is a PhD student at the Center for the Advanced Study for Human Paleobiology (CASHP). His dissertation research focuses on patterns of female social development in wild populations of humans’ closest living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees.

UNDERGRAD: Sean began undergrad at Rutgers University as a pre-med student. He quickly realized that he would not enjoy being a medical doctor and struggled to figured out what it was that he would enjoy doing for a career. He applied for a study abroad scholarship geared specifically towards students in his position--those in search of that "this is what I want to do" moment. He was fortunate to win the scholarship and traveled to Kenya in order to gain experience studying the behavior and ecology of wild primates. From that point on he was hooked.

FIELDWORK: Sean has traveled to Kenya, Costa Rica, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to study wild primates.

JOBS: Sean grew up working at his family's convenience store, doing everything from working the register, janitorial duties, and scooping and serving only the best "The Original" Philadelphia Water Ice.

OTHER: Sean has experience writing grants and fieldwork applications as well as preparing conference presentations.

LOOKING FOR: students seeking advice on changing career paths midway through undergrad and figuring out ways to explore fieldwork with limited financial resources.

CURRENT POSITION: Ayla is a MSc student at the Center for the Advanced Study for Human Paleobiology (CASHP). Her thesis research focuses on sex determination of subadult remains, specifically diverse populations.

UNDERGRAD: Ayla did Running Start through Eastern Washington University, accumulating 83 credits towards her undergraduate degree while finishing her last two years of high school. Originally planning on majoring in Cellular Biology and continuing on to Med-school, it became apparent that her interests lay more in Biological Anthropology and Osteology once she continued her education at the University of Washington.

JOBS: Ayla has had many non-academic jobs starting as a teen, ranging from working at a ranch, babysitting, barista-ing, teaching ESL, and various positions in the service industry. Ayla currently works as a server at a restaurant in DC as well as being a TA for SocioCultural Anthropology.

OTHER: Ayla has experience with navigating the balance of school and work. She also has experience with writing graduate school applications.

LOOKING FOR: mentees, students seeking advice on changing career paths.

CURRENT POSITION: Alexis is a PhD student at the Center for the Advanced Study for Human Paleobiology (CASHP). She studies hominin evolution in the context of paleoecology with a focus on Paranthropus. Her research involves comparative anatomy, zooarchaeology, osteometry, and systematics.

UNDERGRAD: She went to the University of Iowa where she received a BS in Evolutionary Biology as well as a BS in Biological Anthropology. She did research in bioarchaeology at the Office of the State Archaeologist where she documented unknown individuals from the UIowa-Stanford Osteology Collection. Her honors thesis focused on the morphological effects of genetic admixture on human nasofacial morphology.

JOBS: Alexis has worked as a tutor for a variety of subjects including French, Math, and Chemistry. She was an assistant lab coordinator at the University of Iowa for the courses Animal Biology, Foundations of Biology, and Diversity of Form and Function for the Biology Department. Currently, she is a TA for the Introduction to Biological Anthropology course at GWU.

OTHER: Alexis has experience writing senior honors theses, graduate school applications, and poster presentations.

LOOKING FOR: mentees, students seeking advice about graduate school applications and honors theses

CURRENT POSITION: Victoria is an international PhD student at the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology (CASHP). She studies the musculoskeletal evolution of the hand and locomotion biomechanics.

UNDERGRAD: Victoria went to The University of Kent, Canterbury, UK where she gained a BSc with Honours in Biological Anthropology with a Year in the United States. She spent her junior year abroad at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. During her undergrad she was a Music Scholar and performed with a range of music groups. She was initially interested in Forensic Anthropology but then discovered Paleoanthropology. She did her undergraduate thesis on muscle attachment sites, humans, great apes, and the evolution of human locomotion.

MASTERS: Victoria completed a Masters by Research at The University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. Her Masters thesis looked at human hand biomechanics during suspensory locomotion.

FIELDWORK: Victoria has carried out paleontological fieldwork in Spain.

JOBS: During the last few years of high school Victoria worked as a drama teaching assistant for child, teen, and adult classes at a local theatre. She helped teach classes, made props and costumes, wrote plays, and worked the lighting rig. She also worked as a temporary Enrolments Officer at a UK college (equivalent to the last two years of American high school) and has experience as a general classroom TA for elementary school level in the UK. She has also performed with function/soul and alt-pop bands in venues in London and the surrounding areas.

During her undergrad she volunteered with the primate skeletal collection at the Powell-Cotton Museum, UK, as well as with the William R. Adams Zooarchaeology laboratory and the Human Brain Evolution laboratory on her year abroad at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. She has been a TA at GWU for Introduction to Biological Anthropology and an upper level Hominin Evolution course, as well as having assisted with the lab component for an undergrad Human Functional Anatomy course. She is currently the TA for an Honors course in human evolution.

OTHER: Victoria has experience with writing grants and graduate school applications (for both America and Europe). She also has experience with preparing conference presentations and posters, as well as writing undergraduate and masters theses.

LOOKING FOR: mentees, students seeking advice on graduate school applications, and students interested in international study.