KATHERINE BRUNSON | PhD, Assistant Professor
KATHERINE BRUNSON is a zooarchaeologist who studies the origins of China’s domesticated animals and the environmental impacts of animal domestication in East Asia. She is currently investigating the genetic relationships between domestic cattle and the extinct East Asian wild aurochs. She also co-directs the online Oracle Bones in East Asia project. Her research interests include ancient DNA, the origins of pastoralism in East Asia, extirpations and extinctions of China’s native mammals, oracle bones and the ritual aspects of animal domestication, bone artifact production techniques, and archaeological collections management. Dr. Brunson has participated in numerous archaeological survey and excavation projects across China and at the Maya site of Copan, Honduras. Her publications and CV can be found at academia.edu.
HANK SCHWABACHER | Class of 2026
HANK SCHWABACHER is a current Senior at Wesleyan and is a prospective archeology major. He works in the lab as a 3D scanning technician, apprentice flintknapper, and general lab assistant. Outside of the lab he is interested in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of archaeology as well as studio art.
CADENCE COLE | Class of 2026
CADENCE COLE is a Senior at Wesleyan. She is an Archaeology and Anthropology double major. In the EAL lab she works on web design, outreach, and other lab tasks. She is interested in bioarchaeology and hominin evolution. She has done archaeological fieldwork on a Late Antiquity site in Croatia. Outside of the lab she is a member of the Women’s Crew team and works in the admissions office. She is currently working on a thesis regarding faunal remains excavated in Middletown, CT by Wesleyan students between 1974-76. She is studying human interactions with animals and how sites in Middletown fit into the greater New England area.
ASHER EDELMAN | Class of 2027
ASHER EDELMAN is a junior majoring in Archaeology and minoring in Planetary Science. He works in the lab as a 3D scanning and printing technician and general lab assistant. He is interested in environmental archaeology, especially in how microfossils reflect ecological changes and resource availability in anthropogenic ecosystems. This past summer, he joined Professor Gill and other Wesleyan archaeology students at the Field School in Armenian Prehistory to conduct excavations and fieldwork for the Pleistocene Behavioral Landscapes of Northern Armenia project. Outside of the lab, he plays in live bands on campus, is part of the WESU radio DJ community, and loves working with Wesleyan Science Outreach at local elementary schools.
ELISE KRAUTHEIMER | Class of 2027
ELISE KRAUTHEIMER is a junior at Wesleyan University and is an Archaeology and Religious Studies double major. This semester, she is cataloging collections, working on the website, and helping with outreach in the lab. She is interested in studying zooarchaeology, and animal domestication in particular. Outside of the lab, Elise is a member of Gag Reflex, one of Wesleyan’s comedy improv groups, and the President of the Wesleyan Women’s Club Basketball team.
JAY WATSON | Class of 2027
JAY WATSON is a junior at Wesleyan double majoring in Archaeology and French with a minor in Global Engagement Studies. He works as a course assistant for Professor Brunson’s Intro to Archaeology class, a collections technician at the AAC under Wendi Field Murray, and as a barista! He is particularly interested in lithic technologies of Mesoamerican archaeology, researching at a Terminal Classic Maya site in Belize. He has also done field work involved in the hominin prehistory of Armenia.
JAY WATSON | Class of 2027
GRAY CARVER is a junior studying (cultural) Anthropology with a minor in Archaeology. Their area of focus is multispecies anthropology, learning about how humans and nonhumans create worlds together, and they are excited to get started in the lab this year! Gray recently participated in a field school in Armenia led by Professor Gill. Outside of the lab, they play cello and are a captain of Throw Culture, one of Wesleyan’s club frisbee teams.
LAB ALUMNI
NATALIE ANGSTADT | Class of 2025
NATALIE ANGSTADT is a former student at Wesleyan University. She studied Neuroscience & Behavior and Archaeology. She was a course assistant for Professor Brunson’s Introduction to Archaeology class where she helped set up collections and materials for class. In the Environmental Archaeology Lab, she did photogrammetry and other lab tasks. She has done archaeology fieldwork in Castiglione del Lago, Italy, and Huarmey, Peru, and is interested in Latin American archaeology, repatriation, and bioarchaeology.
SYDNEY KELLER | Class of 2025
SYDNEY KELLER is a former student at Wesleyan University who studied Computational Design with a minor in Integrated Design, Engineering, Arts & Society. In the lab, she was a 3D Scanning Technician helping to scan, digitally model, and 3D print Wesleyan’s collections. Outside of the lab, her interests centered around computing applications for human centered design in order to solve problems in a more efficient and effective way.
SHELBY GADALETA | Class of 2024
SHELBY GADALETA is a former student at Wesleyan University, where she studied Government and Archaeology with a minor in Environmental Studies. She worked to identify the EAL’s collection of fish bones. Shelby wrote an archaeology thesis Sharks and Swords: Unraveling the Entangled Relationship Between Culture, Weapons, and Marine Life in Kiribati. Outside of the lab, Shelby played ultimate frisbee for Vicious Circles and was interested in GIS and zooarchaeology. She is currently working as a legal assistant in New York.
ELIZABETH COOPER | Class of 2024
ELIZABETH COOPER is a former student at Wesleyan and Archeology and Anthropology major. She is interested in experimental archeology and the rediscovery of ancient production techniques. In the lab, Beth was flintknapping and creating stone tool teaching collections for use in archaeology courses and public outreach.
AVNISH KULKARNI | Class of 2024
AVNISH KULKARNI is a former student at Wesleyan. They majored in Archaeology and Global South Asian Studies. In the lab, Avnish worked as Head Assistant to help rehouse the Environmental Archaeology Lab’s collections, as well as Wesleyan University’s osteology collections. Ultimately, their goal is to study Environmental Archaeology and Paleoanthropology in South Asia.
ADAM SUSSBAUER| Class of 2024
ADAM SUSSBAUER is a former student at Wesleyan. He studied Earth & Environmental Science with a linked major in Environmental Studies and a minor in Archaeology. In the EAL, he did object photography and cataloged the osteology collections. Outside of the lab, Adam played ultimate frisbee for Nietzsch Factor. He also built sets and did tech for theater and dance shows. Adam is now working for a nonprofit land trust in MA, the Trustees of Reservation, on ecology and biodiversity monitoring.
ANDRES ANGELES-PAREDES | Class of 2024
MELANIE CHAM | Class of 2024
MELANIE CHAM is a former student at Wesleyan where she studied Earth & Environmental Science and Archaeology. In the Environmental Archeology Lab, she assumed the role of Head Lab Assistant working to catalog specimens and organize community events. Outside of the EAL, she was a collections assistant for the College of East Asian Studies Art and Archival Collections and the Archaeology Outreach Coordinator. She also researched Miocene paleobotany with Dr. Dana Royer (Wesleyan University) and Dr. Caroline Strömberg (University of Washington). Melanie is a PhD student at the University of Washington and is a Fulbright scholar researching paleo-carbon dioxide levels from the Late Cretaceous period in India.
NINA HIRAI | Class of 2023
NINA HIRAI is a former student at Wesleyan where she was a Film and Anthropology double major with a minor in Archaeology. In addition to designing the lab website and managing projects taking place in the Environmental Archaeology Lab, she was also responsible for creating educational videos about 3D scanning, developing public outreach modules, the permanent rehousing of osteological collections, and assisting with database cleanup and analysis for the Oracle Bones in East Asia project. She is particularly interested in the cross-section between film and anthropology/archaeology and its potential to increase accessibility and community outreach in the field of Archaeology.
NICK BOWMAN | Class of 2023
NICK BOWMAN is a former student at Wesleyan who studied Archaeology and Environmental Studies. He has assisted in 3D scanning projects to digitize the university’s collections as well as producing labels for the Anthropological collections. In the lab, Nick catalogued stone tool teaching collections and developed educational modules that use the stone tool and paleoanthropology collections.
KIRAN KOWLASKI | Class of 2023
KIRAN KOWALSKI is a former Wesleyan student who majored in Biology and Anthropology. In the lab, Kiran worked on 3D scanning of Wesleyan’s collections as well as developing teaching materials used in a variety of archaeology courses. Kiran also took on the role of teaching assistant for Professor Brunson’s ARCP203: Ancient DNA course. He also studied Insect Ecology with Professor Singer and now works in Public Health.
GUY BENNEVAT HANINOVICH | Class of 2023
GUY BENNEVAT HANINOVICH is a former Wesleyan student who majored in Computer Science and Earth & Environmental Science with an Informatics and Modeling minor. Guy worked with Dr. Brunson to analyze and compare genome sequences of an unknown ancient cattle species and known ancient and modern, wild and domestic, DNA.
QUIN STEINMETZ | Class of 2024
QUIN STEINMETZ is a former Wesleyan student. She worked as a course assistant to the Ancient DNA class Professor Brunson teaches. Her majors were East Asian Studies and Archaeology, so, naturally, she is quite interested in East Asian archaeology. Quin helped with setting up materials for the Ancient DNA course, and in the lab, she assisted in updating the virtual and physical paleoanthropology collections. Quinn is currently preparing for a masters in Medical Illustration. She is working as a freelance photographer and volunteering at a local Historical Society in Edgewater, IL.
FLETCHER LEVY | Class of 2023
FLETCHER LEVY is a former Wesleyan student who majored in Biology and Earth & Environmental Science. Fletcher worked as a 3D Scanning Technician for the EAL. He used the Artec Scanner to create models of each bone within the skeleton of mammals that are closely associated with human settlements. It is hoped that these bones can used be for identification of fragments while in the field. In addition, Fletcher worked with the Wesleyan Natural History Collections to catalogue specimens and associated information into the relational database “Specify7”. He also prepared several exhibits across campus including the “Specimen of the Month”, and “Wisdom Teeth”, both found in Exley Science Center. Fletcher is currently working as an environmental science outdoor educator in Seattle, WA and taking classes to work towards a Geographic Information Systems Certification with the University of Washington. He is pursuing a career in natural resource management.
ANDY TAN | Class of 2021
ANDY TAN is a former student at Wesleyan who graduated with a double major in Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences. Working as a student curator at the Peoples Museum, he has worked on natural history collections spanning various taxa, from Lepidoptera to Mollusca. Andy also enjoys exhibit and graphic designing, fossil and historical cast restoration, as well as taxonomy research. He contemplates evolutionary questions during his leisure time and debates about them with his partner-in-crime Yu Kai as they look forward to photographing spring ephemerals and other New England natives.
YU KAI TAN | Class of 2020
YU KAI TAN is a former student at Wesleyan who graduated with a triple major in Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Anthropology. At Wesleyan, he studied the systematics, functional morphology and biogeography of freshwater mussels (Order: Unionoida) in North America using the 19th century collections in the Peoples Museum. His work as a former student curator in the museum includes: restoring Shelley the Glyptodon, Deinotherium, and Mosasaur; designing exhibitions; and leading digitization efforts on Specify. He enjoys collecting natural history objects and living non-horticultural plants, and painting.
