Research

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My research specialty is human fecal molecules, thus poopy archaeology! I use a class of molecules, called fecal stanols, to track changes in human population in areas of the world where population records do not exist. I'm currently involved in running several experiments to better understand the mobility of these molecules in sediments. Check out the Journal of Archaeological Science paper for more information about this method!

My master's project focused on population and climate changes at Cahokia, the largest archaeological site in the country. My research team and I have published four papers about the site, with more on the way, showing that a large flood and period of extended drought occurred around the time that people began to leave the site and that an indigenous reoccupation of the area occurred after Cahokia's famous abandonment

Since 2018 I have been a part of the EFAP project in Jordan looking at climate changes that occurred shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum and their effects on hunter-gatherer groups. No papers to show just yet, but check back later to see our results! 

In 2015 I was part of a research team working on Quan Lan Island, Vietnam to understand environmental changes that occurred in northern Vietnam over the past thousand years. Check out the Frontiers paper that resulted from our work!