I am a second-year graduate Geoscience PhD student at Princeton University. I graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Geology and a B.S. in Anthropology in 2021. I also graduated with an undergraduate certificate in geospatial information analysis.

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I first heard about the study of human evolution in East Africa when my stepmother gifted me the book “Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind” by Donald Johanson and I sat down to read it my senior year of high school. I found myself hooked. The part that captivated me the most was the small section in the book about the dating of zircons within the Bouroukie Tuff in Hadar, Ethiopia. I was shocked at how such a small seemingly inconspicuous mineral could alter the placement of Australopithecus afarensis on our evolutionary tree and in turn upend our understanding of human evolution.

I first started archaeological and geological research in 2019 as a field student in the Southwest Ethiopian Archaeological Program (SWEAP - sweapmb.com) and returned in 2020 as an undergraduate TA and total station operator for the site. Since then, I have heavily focused on the geological aspects of archaeological digs. My undergraduate research focused on delineating the complex stratigraphy of the rockshelter as well as 40Ar/39Ar dating and geochemistry of the volcanic deposits of the site; the latter of which became my senior undergraduate honors thesis.

My research at Princeton focuses on the geochronology of carbonates, specifically ostrich eggshells, at various archaeological sites to track early human occupation and dispersal in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa and into Europe.

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For more about me, read my CV below.