Recent Alumni

Yan Cai

Yan Cai is interested in investigating the range of sociopolitical variation and identifying factors and forces that produce Pacific island societies (mostly chiefdoms) with characteristics, as well as to investigate how these forces interact with each other in single cases. Her dissertation specifically focuses on the role of local scale productive differentiation and economic interdependence in the development of socio-political complexity in Ngkeklau stonework village of Palau (1200-1800AD). Her research attempts to reconstruct the nature and degree of  productive differentiation and other kinds of social differentiation (wealth, prestige and ritual differentiations) in the Ngkeklau village by analyzing the inter-household variation of archaeological assemblages. By studying the extent that any kinds of differentiation characterize households within Ngkeklau village and the connection between them, her research is going to examine the anthropological hypothesis about the relations of agriculture productivity, community structure and local-scale productive differentiation, that is generated based on the comparison of four other Pacific island societies.

Degrees and Education

M.A. Major in Archaeology, Jilin University, 2010-13
B.A. Major in Archaeology, Xiamen University, 2006-10

Awards

Teaching Instructor, University of Pittsburgh (2018 summer)
Teaching Assistant, University of Pittsburgh (2014-Now)

Sharon Toth

Sharon Toth is interested in comparative anatomy of the knee, mainly the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).  She uses dogs as an anatomical model for humans to understand the biomechanical and genetic susceptibility of ACL rupture.  The unequal distribution of rupture rates suggests there is a predisposition, either mechanical or genetic.  Using statistical analyses, Sharon explores the factors that can lead to rupture.  One of her main objectives is to analyze the connection between the identified variables to understand how certain aspects of the body influence the entire biological system.  Additionally, Sharon has participated in bioarcheological fieldwork in Belize with fellow Pitt graduate students.  She also retains her interest in evolutionary anthropology, especially environmental impact on hominin evolution.             

Degrees and Education

BS - Evolutionary Anthropology – Rutgers University (2015)

Hsi-Wen Chen

Chen Hsi-Wen's dissertation will investigate how and why a form of institutionalized social inequality was promoted and maintained in Hongshan society (4500-3000 BCE), Northeast China. More specifically, demographic reconstruction from regional-scale survey will provide implications for how people interacted with each other in social, political, and economic terms. His other interests include power relations, space, and emotions.

Degrees and Education

BA in Anthropology, National Taiwan University, 2015

Amanda Suarez Calderon

Amanda is interested in the emergence of social complexity in pre-Columbian Southern Costa Rica, and particularly in the role of warfare in that process. In a region where lines of evidence typically used in the archaeological study of warfare (skeletal remains and fortifications) are not feasible to investigate due to preservation issues, but the ethnohistoric record, with detailed descriptions of intense warfare during the Contact period (Sixteenth century), and the artistic representations of trophy heads, warriors and captives in stone sculptures and ceramics, indicate that warfare was a relevant issue in the past, Amanda’s research proposes innovative ways of evaluating the intensity of warfare through the analysis of settlement patterns.

Degrees and Education

BA – Anthropology - University of Costa Rica (2014)

Awards

2009 Best Admission Score, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
2015-2018 Heinz Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
2017 Tinker Grant for field research, Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
2016 Summer Travel Grant, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Research

 

 

 

Darius Bittle-Dockery

Darius has recently successfully earned the degrees of Ph.D. and M.P.H. in Medical Anthropology and Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, respectively. Incorporating interdisciplinary methods, including social network analysis and ethnographic observation, his research investigates the intersection between infrastructural communication technologies, information networks, and the experience of chronic disease within the lives of Syrian refugees in Jordan. His other academic interests reside within the subjects of human ecology, economies of surveillance, and science and technology studies.

Outside of academia, Darius has pursued collaborative opportunities with multiple local and international health organizations. Throughout his time as a graduate student, Darius has worked on a variety of projects ranging from improving community-health programs with UPMC in Pittsburgh to standardizing coordination practices with the International Medical Corps in the Azraq Syrian Refugee Camp.

Through his dissertation research and continued collaboration with health organizations, Darius aims to identify areas of intervention that can help address and ameliorate social determinants of health in the lives of refugees and other groups marginalized by social, political, or health inequities.

 

Degrees and Education

Tufts University - Medford, MA | Sep. 2006 – May 2010
BA in Anthropology with a minor in Philosophy

Awards

Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2019-2020)
David L. Boren Fellowship (2018-2019)
Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellow (2016-2017)
Awarded Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow (2016-17) (Declined)
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Diversity Fellow (Summer 2016)
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow (2015-16)
Fred C. Bruhns Memorial Award Winner (Summer 2015)
K. Leroy Irvis Fellow (2014-15)
University of Pittsburgh Graduate Expo Outstanding Presenter Award (2015)