Graduate Advisees
Over the past 22 years, LMAP Director Theodore Schurr has served on the dissertation and thesis committees of a number of students from both Penn and other academic institutions. Details of their graduate work and short bios of these students is provided below.
PhD Students
Dana Kristjansson, M.D.
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Genetics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway, 2020-present.
Dissertation: “Evolutionary and Phylogeographic Influences on Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Norwegians.”
Advisor: Astanand Jugessur, Department of Global Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Norway.
Kevin Burke
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2020.
Dissertation: “Forests for the Futures: A Biogeography of Industry-University Forest Science in the American South.”
Advisor: Dr. Adriana Petryna, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Lehigh University.
Sam Larson
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2019.
Dissertation: “The Affiliative Social Relations of Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques in the Context of Instability.”
Advisor: Dr. Michael Platt, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Analyst, Baseball Analytics, Boston Red Sox.
Mian Li
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, 2019.
Dissertation: “Genetic History of Papua New Guinea Highlanders.”
Advisor: Dr. Koji Lum, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University.
Status: Research Scientist, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.
Maggie Corley
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
Dissertation: “Leaving Home: Demographic, Endocrine, and Behavioral Correlates of Dispersal in Monogamous Owl Monkeys (Aotus azarae) of Argentina.”
Advisor: Dr. Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.
Status: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Reproductive Ecology Research Group, Yale University.
Andrea Spence-Aizenberg
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
Dissertation: “Olfactory Communication, Mate Choice, and Reproduction in a Monogamous Platyrrhine (Aotus spp).”
Advisor: Dr. Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.
Zeljko Rezek
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2015.
Dissertation: “Temporalities in Stone Provisioning in the Middle Paleolithic Stone Artifact Record of the Cave of Pech de l’Azé IV in Southwest France: Insights into the Variability in Neandertal Landscape Use.” Advisor: Dr. Harold Dibble, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Sergio Guerra
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2014.
Dissertation: “Qualifying and Quantifying the Rate of Decomposition in the Delaware River Valley Region.”
Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. Status: Global Security Intelligence Analyst, Johnson & Johnson.
Sam Lin
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2014.
Dissertation: “Distinct Tool Types or Sharp Rocks of Various Shapes? A New Look at Middle Paleolithic Assemblage Variability and Neanderthal Behavioral Pattern.”
Advisor: Dr. Harold Dibble, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Lecturer, Centre for Archeological Science, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Jessica Fetterman
Ph.D., Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, University of Alabama-Birmingham 2011.
Dissertation: “Mitochondrial Genetics and Function in Cardiovascular Disease Susceptibility.”
Advisor: Dr. Scott Ballinger, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Status: Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Boston University.
Miguel Vilar
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, 2010.
Dissertation: “Origins and Post-Settlement Gene Flow among Culturally and Linguistically Distinct Pacific Populations.”
Advisor: Dr. Koji Lum, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University.
Status: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
Page Selinsky
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2009.
Dissertation: “Death a Necessary End: Perspectives on Paleodemography and Aging from Hasanlu, Iran.”
Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Editor, University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications.
Utsav Schurmanns
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2008.
Dissertation: “The Production of Small Flakes in the Middle Paleolithic: A New Look at Assemblage Variability.”
Advisor: Dr. Harold Dibble, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Director, Research and Scholar Programs, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Radu Iovita
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2008.
Dissertation: “Ontogenetic Scaling in Stone Tools and Its Application to European Middle Paleolithic Systematics.”
Advisor: Dr. Harold Dibble, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University.
Krista Latham
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Temple University, 2008.
Dissertation: “Unexpected NRY Chromosome Variation in Northern Island Melanesia.”
Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Friedlaender, Department of Anthropology, Temple University.
Status: Professor of Biology and Anthropology, University of Indianapolis.
Danielle James
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Temple University, 2008.
Dissertation: “Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Northern Island Melanesia.”
Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Friedlaender, Department of Anthropology, Temple University.
Status: Chair, Department of Social Sciences, Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD.
Melanie Chang
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
Dissertation: “Neanderthal Origins, Middle Pleistocene Systematics, and Test of Current Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Hypothesis.”
Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Portland State University.
Marc Meyer
Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
Dissertation: “Analysis of 1.75 Million Year-Old Hominid Vertebrae from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia.”
Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Professor, Department of Anthropology, Chaffey College.
Master’s Students
Li Li
M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2019.
Thesis: “The Incorporation of Computer Simulation in Artifact Orientation Analysis: A Case Study of Shuidonggou Locality 2, China.”
Advisor: Dr. Harold Dibble, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: PhD Student, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Ashley Terry
M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
Thesis: “Faunal Analysis of Mound A at the Smith Creek Site, Mississippi.”
Co-Advisors: Drs. Megan Kassabaum and Kate Moore, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Post-Bac Pre-Med Student, Johns Hopkins University.
Emma McNamara
M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
Thesis: “Variation in Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) Vocalizations: Social and Biological Influences.”
Co-Advisor: Dr. Michael Platt, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Documentary Researcher and Associate Producer, New York.
Öznur Gukhan
M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2010.
Thesis: “Ontogeny of Human Temporal Bone in Tepe Hissar, Iran,”
Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Ph.D. Researcher, Cranfield University, Swindon, UK.
Andrea Grigg
M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 2008.
Thesis: “Sexual Dimorphism in the Juvenile Skeleton.” Advisor: Dr. Janet Monge, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Status: Educational Technology Specialist, Washoe County School District, Reno, NV.