News from the lab
Lab members and Wilkes Scholars, Jane Damstedt and Auriana Dunn, presented at the Wilkes Climate Summit in May 2024
Auriana Dunn
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
Auriana's poster highlights preliminary results from her analysis of fauna from Thundershower Cave in Utah's Bear River Basin.
Jane Damstedt
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
Jane's poster highlights preliminary results from her analysis of fauna from Tubafore Cave in Utah's House Range Mountains.
Photo credit: Todd Anderson.
University of Utah, College of Science marketing team.
"News from Our Scientists" Exhibit at the National History Museum
of Utah highlights work from the
Utah Cave Project
The exhibit will run from April 2024 - August 2024.
To learn more about the exhibit and my part in this research,
read "SRI Stories: Bones of the Past".
Lab members presented posters at various University of Utah undergraduate research symposia throughout April 2024
B.S. Student Jason Fisher
Major: Anthropology
This project typed a repatriated projectile point collection in collaboration with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, College of Behavioral and Social Science Research Day event on April 24, 2024
Poster Winner: 2nd place in the undergraduate research category, College of Behavioral and Social Science Research Day.
B.S. Student Jane Damstedt
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
This project described the objectives of Jane's research focused on building a paleoecological baseline of Utah's House Range Mountain.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, College of Behavioral and Social Science Research Day event on April 24, 2024
B.S. Student Spencer Moore
Major: Anthropology
This project assessed the presence of Bighorn Sheep in Utah's House Range Mountains.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, College of Behavioral and Social Science Research Day event on April 24, 2024
B.S. Student Jailyn Primero
Major: Biology
This project outlined Jailyn's research project assessing how recent climate change is impacting small mammal body size in Utah's House Range Mountains.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, Access Scholars event on April 19, 2024
B.S. Student Emilie Bailey
Majors: Biology and Anthropology
This project outlined Emilie's research project assessing how recent climate change is impacting small mammal body size in the Bear River Basin.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, Access Scholars event on April 19, 2024
B.S. Student Auriana Dunn
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
This project assessed comparative morphology between Canid species.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, Office of Undergraduate Research symposia on April 9, 2024, and College of Behavioral and Social Science research day event on April 24, 2024.
Poster Winner: Best in Social Science, Office of Undergraduate Research symposia
B.S. Student Jessica Parsons
Major: Biochemistry
This project outlined how Jessica is using 3D scanning and printing to create teaching toolkits for greater scientific outreach.
Poster presented at the University of Utah, Office of Undergraduate Research symposia, April 9, 2024
Congratulations to lab members on receiving Summer 2024 grant awards
Lab member Ethan Reid received an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Award through the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Utah.
Ethan's project will use Wyoming ground squirrel burrows to determine if surface artifact density accurately represents subsurface artifact density.
Lab members Jane Damstedt and Auriana Dunn renewed their undergraduate Wilkes Scholarships through the University of Utah Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, which provides funding for students conducting transformative research to find innovative solutions to address climate change.
Jane and Auriana's projects are associated with the Utah Cave Project and are helping to build paleoecological baselines.
Lab member, Danielle Terry, presented at the Utah Wildlife Conference in March 2024
Talk title: Investigating intraspecific temporal behavior in mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) across life stages: fawning and non-fawning
Link to watch her talk here.
Lab members Jane Damstedt, Auriana Dunn, and Danielle Terry presented at the
Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research in February 2024
Paleoecological baseline of Utah's House Range Mountains
B.S. Student Jane Damstedt
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
This project described the objectives of Jane's research focused on building a paleoecological baseline of Utah's House Range Mountain.
Dental microwear analysis on bovids
B.S. Student Auriana Dunn
Majors: Anthropology & Biology
This project assessed the dental microwear of bovids to reconstruct diet and seasonality
Assessing mule deer temporal behavior
across life stages
(5 min speed talk)
High School Student Danielle Terry
This project assessed mule deer activity at different times of day across different life stages
Congratulations to lab members on receiving Spring 2024 grant awards
Lab members Jane Damstedt, Auriana Dunn, and Danielle Terry received undergraduate Wilkes Scholarships through the University of Utah Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, which provides funding for students conducting transformative research to find innovative solutions to address climate change.
Jane and Auriana's projects are associated with the Utah Cave Project and will help to build paleoecological baselines.
Danielle's project is focused on understanding intraspecific temporal behavior in mule deer across different life stages across Utah.
Lab member Jessica Parsons received an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Award through the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Utah.
Jessica's project will use 3D scanning and printing technology to build accessable teaching tool-kits around to study of vertebrate osteology.