Mentorship
AUGMENT
Board Member and Undergraduate Mentor
AUGMENT (Anthropology Undergraduate-Graduate Mentorship program) is designed to empower underrepresented undergraduates who are interested in Anthropology, both majors and non-majors. AUGMENT matches undergraduates with a graduate student mentor with similar interests, similar experiences, or a similar background - giving them someone to turn to for help in navigating the “hidden curriculum” of Anthropology and university life. Through this program, I have mentored 5 undergraduate students majoring in Anthropology (1 per year) and supported them in navigating the major, research, and fieldwork opportunities, and career options. My first three undergraduates that I mentored have successfully graduated and are currently graduate students (Anna Luurtsema, 2021-2022, PhD Student in Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Mya Welch, 2022-2023, MA Student in Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and India Pruette, 2023-2024, PhD Student in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley).
Project Mentor
UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) is a University of Michigan program specifically geared towards lower classmen (freshman and sophomore) and transfer students to provide a pathway to participate in research across a variety of academic fields. Through my ongoing dissertation project UROP component, entitled “Archaeology of Food in Early Cities in Southwest Asia,” I have mentored 7 students in archaeological science and zooarchaeology methods. I have also mentored students on professionalization skills, leading to conference presentations. In addition, I have been nominated as an outstanding UROP mentor for 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025.
UROP
Graduate Advisor
I mentor Anthropology undergraduates interested in pursuing an honors thesis research project through collaboration with my expertise in Near Eastern Archaeology and/ through material from my dissertation excavations. This mentorship supports undergraduates who are seeking research and laboratory experience, providing an opportunity to learn the ropes of anthropological archaeology research.
Anna Luurtsema “Persistence in Pastoralist Practices During the Uruk Period at Tepe Farukhabad” (2022-2023).
Danielle Tutak ““New Tools For Old Tools”: Re-examining Early Bronze-Age Worked Bone Artifacts via Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry” (2023-2024).
India Pruette “The Herd Mentality: A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Animal Care in the Northern Negev Desert” (2024-2025).
