After working as an analytical chemist for Union Carbide, I decided to pursue a career that would help me make sense of the world around me. Chemistry was fun and all but day after day working in a laboratory with chemicals was nowhere near as fulfilling as traversing North American learning and teaching about culture.
I completed both masters and doctoral work with the anthropology department of Binghamton University in New York. There I developed expertise in animal bone analyses and Native American cultures.
I began working as an independent bone analyst in 1998 and have worked on assemblages from the Southwestern, Northeastern, and MidAtlantic United States. That faunal work was in addition to active research on the Susquehannock of NY/PA, one rooms schools in MD/MI/OH, the historic town of Port Tobacco Maryland, and the octagon house movement led by Orson S. Fowler. I’ve published on all but the Fowler work. That is a project I am always intending to get back to. For the last decade, I have been focused on the creation and maintenance of New York City’s water system. I’m wrapping up a book project on it.
I have been fortunate enough to serve as a tenure-track professor at two liberal arts colleges, first Heidelberg University and then Vassar College. I received tenure at Vassar in 2017. There I teach courses on archaeology, forensic anthropology, repatriation, and environmental studies. I have also developed a walking ghost tour of the college campus.
My active professional memberships are with the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA), and the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA). I have served as a Leadership Fellow with the AAA, as a member of the Standards Board for the RPA, and as a member of the SAA Committee on Consulting Archaeology, the SAA Dienje Kenyon Memorial Fellowship committee. PDFs of my publications are available on academia.edu . I also have a LinkedIn profile.
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