Meet Our Graduate Students

The UB Department of Anthropology is pleased to present 
the current directory listing of our graduate students.

  • Zacchariah M. Apolito.
    Zacchariah M. Apolito
    PhD Student | he,him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Biological anthropology; Functional morphology; Biomechanics; Bone biology; Locomotion in natural environments

  • Swagata Biswas.
    Swagata Biswas

    477 Spaulding Quad

    swagatab@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Cultural anthropology; Human geography; Urban studies; Immigration; Indian diaspora; Caste discrimination

  • Faculty Name.
    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Archaeology of the Aegean and Near East; Anatolian archaeology; Turkey; Bronze Age; Ceramic analysis; Petrography; Experimental archaeology; Geometric morphometrics; Museum studies; Cultural heritage

  • Marianne Cooper.

    150 Spaulding Quad Bldg 6

    Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Lab

    cooper39@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Human and primate evolutionary morphology; Comparative primate anatomy and osteology; Quantitative genetics; Ecogeographic variation; Cranial and pelvic morphology and evolution; Obstetric selection

    150 Spaulding Quad Bldg 6

    Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Lab

    cooper39@buffalo.edu

  • Nikita Das.
    Nikita Das

    476 Spaulding Quad Bldg 6

    ndas@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Anthropology of energy; Energy transitions; Economic anthropology, Policy. I am interested in widening my knowledge on how low carbon futures are perceived and articulated by use of anthropological methods in rural West Bengal, India.

    476 Spaulding Quad Bldg 6

    ndas@buffalo.edu

  • Lauren Garvey.
    Lauren Garvey
    MA Student | she, her, hers
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Osteology; Forensic anthropology; Identification of skeletal remains and how different environmental influences can affect the skeletal system (teeth, injuries); Biological anthropology

  • Faculty Name.
    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Movement ecology; Primatology; Landscape ecology; Behavioral ecology; Remote sensing

  • Faculty Name.
    Kevin Palmisano
    PhD Student | he, him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: My research interests involve the emergence of throwing in hominins and the adaptations that enable it. Other non-human primates throw, but none throw as forcefully or accurately as humans. Why? Was throwing something actively selected for? Did hominins hunt by throwing? A variety of questions have been raised about throwing and none have been answered satisfactorily. For my Master’s Thesis I am investigating the human hand and its unique adaptations for manipulative tasks and how they relate to our ability to throw forcefully and accurately.

  • Faculty Name.
    Sarah Elizabeth Pender Smith
    PhD Student
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Medieval and post-medieval Europe; Bioarchaeology; Osteology; Warfare and conflict; Skeletal trauma; Genealogical applications in anthropology; Museums

  • Keenan Phillips.
    Keenan Phillips

    262 Academic Center

    UB Archaeological Survey

    keenanph@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student | he, him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Archaeology; GIS; Digital methodologies; Paleoethnobotany; Palynology; Plant domestication; Climate change; Cultural resource management and Historic preservation; Northeastern North America

    262 Academic Center

    UB Archaeological Survey

    keenanph@buffalo.edu

  • Erin Pinkston.

    150 Spaulding Quad Bldg. 6

    Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory

    erinpink@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: My interests broadly cover human variation and functional morphology in both modern, and historical contexts. For my master’s project, I conducted a radiographic study of juvenile femora to derive regression formulae for statue and body mass estimates. My dissertation project employs geometric morphometrics to explore the purported relationship between subsistence and weaning practices, craniomandibular morphology, and occlusal patterns in modern clinical populations, and pre-industrial populations. Biological anthropology; Forensic anthropology; Bioarchaeology; Skeletal biology; Osteology; Morphology; Human variation.

    150 Spaulding Quad Bldg. 6

    Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory

    erinpink@buffalo.edu

  • Faculty Name.
    Elias Plata Espino
    PhD Student | he, his, him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: I have been a graduate student in the Anthropology PhD program at UB since 2019. My current research connects current concerns about sustainability with people’s historical struggle to maintain control over their territory. Specifically, my research looks into the historical tension between the extractive and refuge use of forests for the indigenous and mestizo people in the Sierra Tarahumara of Mexico and its implications under neoliberal environmental governance.

  • Brianna Porter.
    Brianna Porter
    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: I am interested primarily in environmental anthropology, specifically the contradictory nature and effects of shrimp farming policy. My geographical area of study, Thailand, highlights the complexities surrounding shrimp aquaculture certification and the management of environmental challenges. I am also interested in outcomes that arise from friction between local, state, and global actors in the production of food.

  • Faculty Name.
    Hannah Quintance

    361 Richmond Quad Bldg 4

    hlquaint@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Cultural heritage studies; collaborative museum practice and community engagement; public archaeology

  • Faculty Name.
    Jason Rasmussen
    PhD Student | he, him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Bioarchaeology; Identity; New materialism; Prehistoric European burial practices; Post-mortem manipulation of human remains.

  • Faculty Name.
    EricaMarie Schultz
    MA Student | she, her, hers
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences
  • Faculty Name.

    480 Spaulding Quad Bldg 4

    brentwhi@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student | he, him
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: The European Neolithic and Chalcolithic; Human-environment interaction; Niche construction

  • Faculty Name.
    Kathleen Wilson

    484 Spaulding Quad Bldg 4

    krwilson@buffalo.edu

    PhD Student | she, her
    Department of Anthropology
    College of Arts and Sciences

    Research Topics: Early medieval Scotland; Religious and sacred spaces; Landscape archaeology; Geographic information systems (GIS); Agent-based modeling