Anthropology & Archaeology Faculty

Areas of Expertise

biological anthropology and Eastern Woodlands archaeology

Background

Dr. Schmidt received his PhD from Purdue University in 1998. As director of the Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Dr. Schmidt is active in his field and works to get his students involved in fieldwork and research. He has published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology , the Journal of Forensic Science and Indiana Archeology. He is a former President of the Indiana Archaeology Council. In 2003, Dr. Schmidt led the excavation of a site that dates to around 10,000 years ago and includes the remains of a mastodon. He is particularly interested in seeing how diet affects the human body in terms of overall health and body size. He reconstructs diet by studying the diseases, overall wear and microscopic wear (i.e., microwear) on human teeth. Once a population's diet is reconstructed he then documents the condition of the rest of the skeleton to see how through time certain pathological conditions (like bone disorders and trauma) are associated with each dietary regime early people had.

Dr. Schmidt's current research focuses on reconstructing lifeways for the earliest inhabitants of Indiana. He has studied pre-contact populations from throughout the state and led excavations at sites dating from 1,000 to over 5,000 years old.

Research Interests

Dental anthropology; skeletal biology; dietary reconstruction; subsistence; and human-paleofauna interactions

Education

PhD, Purdue University

View Dr. Schmidt's website

Areas of Expertise

molecular and forensic anthropology

Background

Dr. Latham recently co-edited a book entitled Age Estimation of the Human Skeleton, which compiles different techniques used to estimate age at death of the skeleton. She is a Board Certified Forensic Anthropologist (D-ABFA) and currently serves as a Consulting Forensic Anthropologist for police, coroners and pathologists in the Midwestern United States and has delivered numerous lectures for state and local agencies around the country. Dr. Latham also serves as a DNA Expert in the U.S. Federal Court System.

Research Interests

investigation of different aspects of skeletal biology; population genetics; skeletal DNA

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, Temple University
• MA, Anthropology, Temple University
• MS, Human Biology, University of Indianapolis
• BS, Biology, University of North Texas

Fun fact

Favorite food is nachos

Favorite thing about UIndy

The people!

Areas of Expertise

Midwestern and Southeastern pre-contact archaeology; hunter-gatherer archaeology; Spanish Mission period archaeology; Midwestern historic archaeology; lithics and ceramics analysis; bone tools analysis; geoarchaeology; archaeological theory

Background

Dr. Moore received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Kentucky in 2011, where he studied the organization of production of the stone and bone tool technologies of the Kentucky Green River Archaic. During this time he began investigations into the location of the Spanish mission on Sapelo Island, Georgia, with Dr. Richard Jefferies. Dr. Moore has published in several peer-reviewed journals, including World Archaeology, Journal of Social Archaeology , Southeastern Archaeology, North American Archaeologist, and the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. He is qualified as a Principal Investigator in the State of Indiana and works closely with archaeologists from the Indiana State Museum. He is also a Chairman of the Board of the Indiana Archaeology Council, Indiana's statewide organization of professional archaeologists.

Research Interests

Dr. Moore's research interests are many and varied. His continuing interest in hunter-gatherer archaeology led him to the work of Tim Ingold and explorations into how a dwelling perspective of Archaic cultures can inform us about hunter-gatherer lifeworlds, materiality and ritual practices. This research has led him to an interest in public archaeology and the public dissemination of archaeological knowledge. His work at the Baum's Landing Site is an outgrowth of this interest. Dr. Moore's commitment to archaeology in the Hoosier state has led him to an interest in landscape archaeology in Carroll County and the study of Fort Ancient cultures in Southeastern Indiana. Finally, he is co-director of a collaborative University of Kentucky and University of Indianapolis research project investigating the Spanish Mission period in Georgia, where he is researching the social roles of material culture in multiethnic communities. You can access many of Dr. Moore's publications and learn more about him at: uindy.academia.edu/ChristopherMoore.

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, University of Kentucky
• MA, Anthropology, University of Kentucky
• BS, Archaeology/Anthropology, University of Indianapolis

Fun fact

Recently Dr. Moore has found ways to integrate two of his passions - archaeology and craft beer - and will be teaching a course on the Archaeology of Beer, Wine & Spirits in 2019.

Favorite thing about UIndy

The emphasis on student-faculty collaboration, and the number of strong undergraduate and graduate students who participate in these collaborations.

Areas of Expertise

Ethnography of Korea and East Asia; Psychological Anthropology; The Anthropology of Love; Femininity and Masculinity; Socioeconomic and Sociolegal Perspectives on Sex Work

Background

Dr. Nelson received his PhD from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he conducted ethnographic research in South Korea on transformations in romantic relationships, gender relations, and conceptions of romantic love in contemporary South Korea and their implications for Korea’s declining marriage and fertility rates. He has written on the ethnology of love and his work in Korea in the journal, Cross-Cultural Research, and the International Handbook of Love. He is also engaged in interdisciplinary collaborative research projects aimed at understanding contemporary sexual commerce in the United States as forms of erotic entrepreneurship through the Erotic Entrepreneurs Project and Virtual Sexual Economies Project, investigations of the business strategies, legal barriers and social inequalities navigated by providers of escorting and webcam modeling services, respectively. Dr. Nelson offers courses in cultural anthropology on topics of crime and criminalization, romantic relationships, sexuality, and marriage, social stratification (e.g. gender, race & class), human trafficking, and East Asia.

Research Interests

Dr. Nelson is currently engaged in several ongoing collaborative mixed-method research projects in collaboration with student researchers. He is currently examining the cultural construction of love and gender in Korean television dramas to explore how television programs shape expectations and experiences of romantic relationships in South Korea. Dr. Nelson also works with students and an interdisciplinary team of scholars to study the webcam modeling industry through the Virtual Sexual Economies Project, which is currently focused on understanding racial and ethnic inequalities experienced by cam models in their work on streaming platforms and social media.

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• MA, Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• BA, Anthropology and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Fun Facts

Dr. Nelson loves spicy food, science fiction, and cats.

Favorite thing about UIndy

UIndy’s commitment to fostering student-faculty research collaborations and service-learning opportunities.

Areas of Expertise

ethnography of North America; medical anthropology; social and political contexts of health; intersections among race, class and gender

Background

Dr. O'Daniel's current research focuses on the survival experiences of low-income African American women living with HIV disease in urban North Carolina. This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the University of Indianapolis, and the results have been published in such journals as Transforming Anthropology and Human Organization.

Research Interests

health care policy; economic globalization; HIV/AIDS; health disparities and health care inequality; lived experiences of inequality

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, University of Kentucky
• MA, Anthropology, University of Denver
• BA, Anthropology, Indiana University

Fun facts

Dr. O'Daniel is passionate about nutrition as a form of health care, and her favorite author is Margaret Atwood.

Favorite thing about UIndy

The students, of course!

Areas of Expertise

skeletal biology; forensic anthropology; human taphonomy; osteoarchaeology; skeletal age estimation; biostatistics; historic cemeteries

Background

Dr. Nawrocki has taught full-time at the University of Indianapolis since 1991, where he is currently a tenured professor of Biology and Anthropology. One of only a few dozen board-certified forensic anthropologists in North America, Dr. Nawrocki has served as a consultant on hundreds of human remains cases in Indiana and Illinois and has delivered numerous lectures at educational seminars around the country. In 1999, Dr. Nawrocki was named "Teacher of the Year" at the University of Indianapolis, where he also received the Brooker Teaching Award for the Sciences in 1993. Dr. Nawrocki has authored several books and has published in journals including the Journal of Forensic Sciences and Florida Anthropologist.

Research Interests

Dr. Nawrocki's research interests include the analysis and identification of human skeletons, environmental processes affecting buried and scattered bones (taphonomy), and evidence recovery from outdoor crime scenes (forensic archaeology)

Education

• PhD, Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton
• MA, Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton
• BA, Anthropology & Psychology, University of Maine at Orono

Fun fact

In his spare time, Dr. Nawrocki plays guitar in his church band and enjoys birding and hiking with his family