Holding a whale vertebra while my advisor, Ben Fitzhugh, casually leans on another bone in the background. PC: Hollis Miller

Hi! My name is Hope and I’m a first year graduate student in the archaeology program here at UW. I recently graduated from the University of Maryland where I received a B.S. in Anthropology. While an undergraduate, I interned at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History for a year and a half. As an intern I helped analyze the dolphin and porpoise remains from an archaeological site in Oregon. I also learned about ancient DNA and assisted with different projects studying human interactions with maize, cassava, and crabapple.  I’ve done field work on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and Kodiak Island, Alaska. At UW I hope to study how people interacted with marine ecosystems in the past, using ancient DNA to investigate past population structures of marine species that people relied on for sustenance and economic purposes. Regionally I’m interested in the North Pacific Rim, but particularly the Pacific Northwest and Gulf of Alaska. Thus far I’m loving living in Seattle and have taken every chance possible to get out and explore Mt. Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks along with all the gorgeous forests and beaches between. I’m obsessed with whales.