Members of the Quaternary Paleoecology Laboratory

LAB ALUMNI


Hannah Christ (Masters student in Anthropology)

Hannah used stable isotope data to investigate the demographics of two assemblages of 19th Century human remains found under Washington Park and Music Hall in downtown Cincinnati. The goal of the study was to document differences in the diet and residence of the two populations. 



Rajarshi Dasgupta (MS in Geology)    

For his masters project, Rajarshi investigated contamination of roadside soils along the Manali-Leh Highway in northwestern India. His thesis project is published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (Dasgupta et al. 2017). 




Bevin Kenney (Masters student in Anthropology)

Bevin investigated the isotope ecology of historic woodland bison at Big Bone Lick.





Rachel Meyer (Masters student in Anthropology)

Rachel used stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to investigate and compare the diet of dogs and wolves at the Hahn Archaeological Site in southwestern Ohio.




Stella Mosher (MS in Geology)

For her masters thesis, Stella used spatial patterns in foliar carbon and nitrogen isotope values to determine the manner in which fog affects cloud forests on Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Her results will provide the foundation for future research regarding past climatic conditions, food webs, and anthropogenic impacts on the island. Her thesis is published in Acta Oecologica (Mosher et al. 2020).


Janine Sparks (PhD in Geology)

For her PhD work, Jani used sulfur isotopes to (1) examine the effects of sea spray on vegetation in Trinidad, (2) investigate past human foraging practices on the island, and (3) establish the impact of coal fired power plants on vegetation in the Ohio Valley. Her previous MA research focused on the Ohio Valley and the movement of raw lithic materials. Jani’s first dissertation project is published in Applied Geochemistry (Sparks et al. 2019) and the second is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports (Sparks and Crowley 2018). We are reworking her third project for submission to Soil, Air, and Water Pollution.



Jenelle Gaylord (Wallace) (MS in Geology)

For her Master's thesis, Jenelle used strontium isotopes to reconstruct the mobility of horses in Miocene Florida following the evolution and expansion of grasslands. This  innovative project is published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (Wallace et al. 2019).



Clark Ward (MS student in Geosciences)

For their Master's project, Clark investigated the stable isotope paleoecology of Teleoceras major and co-occurring ungulates at the Nebraskan late Miocene site Ashfall Fossil Beds. 




Eric Baumann (BS in Geology)

Eric wrote his undergraduate thesis on the isotope ecology of now-extinct mammoths and mastodons from the Cincinnati region. This project is published in Boreas (Baumann and Crowley, 2015).




Ian Castro (BS in Geology)

For his senior project, Ian processed and analyzed tails of small mammals from Madagascar to better understand how habitat disturbance and differences in foraging ecology affect strontium isotope ratios. This project is now published in Naturwissenshaften (Crowley et al. 2018).  




Madison Greenwood (BA in Anthropology)

Maddie examined how digestion by avian and mammalian predators influences the isotope values of prey remains bone and hair. We are now in the process of expanding the project to include a larger, more robust, dataset. 




Ian Macadam (BA and BS Anthropology and Geology)

Ian worked on a project that examined ecological change through time at a subfossil locality in southwestern Madagascar. Ian’s long-term interests pertain to hominin evolution, particularly the transition from australopithecine to early Homo and the concomitant shifts in dietary and technological adaptation. In his free time he enjoys running through the forest and eating too much food.




Danielle Strasinger (BS in Geology)

For her undergraduate thesis, Danielle used carbon and nitrogen isotope values to investigate (1) niche partitioning among extinct and extant vertebrates, and (2) potential competition between endemic and introduced vertebrates on Tenerife.  





LABORATORY ASSISTANTS


Our research would not be possible without the help of enthusiastic and hardworking volunteers!



Katherine Baritell, Eric Baumann, Radhika Bhargava, David Brown, Emma Cancelliere, Megan Carrl, Ian Castro, Seth Cohen, Marlena Cravens, Helen Dietsch, Sean Egderton, Christina Emery, Sarah Fretwell, Lucas Goldstone, Megan Hannah, Cheyenne Hassan, George William Harrison, Emily Hofstetter, Christine Ishu, Angelina Jelks, Lucas Joel, Michael Karaus, Heather Kristjanson, Daniel Le Saint, Artur Linkowski, Wesley McCandless, Kathleen Minh Nguyen, Madelyn Moeller, Logan Nonnez, Tommy Oliver, Giana Pieraccini, Sierra Richardson, Ellie Severson, Alaina Strand, Kaitlin Sommer & Amelia Tomi. 



Thank you all for your help!






DISSERTATION AND THESIS COMMITTEES


UC Department of Anthropology

Current: 


Past: 

Lauren Heitkamp (MA completed in Spring 2016)

Alexis Niekamp (MA completed in Spring 2016)

Maria Fox (MA completed in Summer 2013)

Jessica Hughes (MA completed in Fall 2012)

Denise Knisely (MA completed in Spring 2013)

Ashley McCall (MA completed in Spring 2013)

Dayna Reale (MA completed in Summer 2016)

Jacob Weakley (MA completed in Summer 2021)


UC Department of Geosciences

Current:

Lilja Carden (PhD expected in Spring 2026)

Maddie Gaetano (PhD expected in Spring 2024)


Past:

Jeanette Arkle (PhD completed in Fall 2019)

Meg Corcoran (PhD completed in Spring 2023)

Douglas Disbennet (MS completed in Spring 2014)

Erika Freimuth (PhD completed in Spring 2018)

Sharmila Giri (MS completed in Spring 2013)

Jeff Hannon (PhD completed in in Spring 2020)

Abby Kelly (PhD completed in Spring 2022)

Wesley Parker (switched from MS to PhD program in Spring 2018)

Kristen Schlanser (PhD expected in Spring 2020)

Yeon Jee Suh (PhD completed in Fall 2017)

Matt Vrazo (PhD completed in Summer 2016)

Jonas Zajonz (MS completed in Summer 2023)


External Committees: 

Current:

Eva Hernandez-Janer (PhD in Human Evolutionary Sciences expected in Spring 2025; Rutgers University)


Past:

Sophie Habinger (PhD in Geosciences Summer 2023; University in Tübingen, Germany, and University of Poitiers, France)

Sean Hixon (PhD Spring 2021, UC Santa Barbara)


CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

Emily Simpson (PhD student in Geosciences)

Emily is interested in past ecosystems, especially diets and land-use by animals. For her PhD, she is investigating how climate shifts at the end of the Eocene Epoch impacted vegetation and the foraging niches of mammals in Egypt.  


Andrew Hensley (PhD student in Geosciences)

Andrew received their B.S. in Geographic Information Science from Eastern Kentucky University. They will be doing their dissertation research on recently extinct rodents from Hispaniola. Using isotope analysis of bone collagen and tooth enamel, they hope to help build a better picture of the recent ecosystem on the island and help clarify what led to the decline of these species. Andrew is also very interested in the applications of

isotope ecology on Eocene mammals.



Harley Bailey (MS student in Geosciences)


Harley is interested in Quaternary megafauna as well as  past environments, particularly faunal assemblages and the relationships between organisms. He is also interested in the intersection between paleontology and paleoanthropology. Using ZooMS collagen analysis, Harley hopes to examine the taphonomic and temporal limits of this method in differentiating North American ruminants and identifying fragmentary remains where other identification methods fall short.




Brooke Crowley (PI)

I have always been fascinated by the natural world and became interested in science at a very young age. Click HERE for more information about my research interests.


Brooke and Amelia Tomi