News

Anthropology YouTube Channel and sp 21 course "Sci Com by Video"

 The Anthropology Department now has a YouTube channel featuring original videos, relevant to today’s pressing issues. Currently you can see videos about pestilence, including “The 1918 Flu Pandemic” and “Chickenpox vs. the Measles.” The Department is offering a mini-course in spring 2021, 01:070:291 Science Communication by Video, to be taught by Professor Rob Scott and recent graduate Olivia Boss. Students will learn to create videos with solid production value, to be uploaded to this channel. The videos will encompass five thematic areas: Pandemics, Global Warming, Artificial Intelligence, World Population and Nuclear Holocaust.

Rob Scott, Professor and Undergraduate Director for the Rutgers NB Anthropology Department, has taught a Rutgers SAS Signature course "Extinction" since 2009. Based on themes explored in the course, the Four Horseman video project is a science communication effort of Prof. Scott's lab group supported by the Signature Course Initiative and Rutgers SAS.

Olivia Boss, who graduated from Rutgers NB in 2020 as an Evolutionary Anthropology major and honors student, developed and presented her thesis on comparative study of diet and dental microwear in new world monkeys. She earned highest honors and won a first prize in the Anthropology Department Honors Symposium, as well as a Henry Rutgers Scholar Award. For this project she is serving as script writer and content editor.

To visit the Anthropology Department YouTube channel, find the link on the bottom banner at the department web site (anthro.rutgers.edu) or follow this link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzf5MVYjyrEHzggRQ1KJ9YA

Louisa Schein Quoted in New York Times Article on High Cost of Monument-Building in China

Louisa Schein contributed insight for a New York Times article, which looks at increasing criticism of investing millions to build huge statues in China.

See article here

David Hughes Chairs AFT's National Committee on Greening Schools

Dr. David Hughes led a process within the American Federation of Teachers (1.7 million members) to endorse the Green New Deal in July 2020, becoming the first major union of the AFL-CIO to support the Green New Deal. Now, Dr. Hughes is chairing AFT’s national committee on greening schools.

Safiena Salaman Receives SGS Excellence in Student Support Award

Congratulations to Safiena Salaman, Anthropology Grad Assistant, who was selected for the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Excellence in Student Support Award (Nov. 2020), recognizing Rutgers staff members who have made significant contributions to SGS grad students and programs. In her recognition speech, Graduate Director Erin Vogel cited “her strong commitment to facilitating graduate studies and her dedication to the Anthropology Department graduate students. Safiena keeps the program running, she makes sure that all of the needs of our students are met, and ensures that I meet all of the many deadlines within the School for Graduate Studies. Safiena goes far beyond expectations in her ability to multi-task, to look after our graduate student cohort, and to cope with the ever-increasing complexity of our Graduate Program. Safiena is also a very gifted supervisor and mentor to our undergraduate work-study students.”

Omar Dewachi & Joyce Lu Lead Panel on COVID Challenges to Grad Research

On November 5, 2020, Prof. Omar Dewachi and graduate student Joyce Lu led a panel on challenges to grad student research and education during  COVID19. Hosted by the Society & Pandemic Working Group, this interdisciplinary panel brought together speakers from multiple departments and campuses across Rutgers, featuring doctoral candidates Alexandra Adams, Biological Sciences-Newark; Gabrielle Cabrera, Anthropology-New Brunswick; Dilara Demir, Sociology-New Brunswick; and Lisette Varón-Carvajal, History-New Brunswick. Topics discussed included COVID19-related restrictions on travel and access to research materials, IRB modifications and "COVID contingency plans," precarities in funding, as well challenges unique to international students.       - Joyce Lu, CITE doctoral student

Dr. Dan Cabanes Leads Team to Explore Mystery of Missing Bones

SAS featured the work of Dan Cabanes, who is leading an undergraduate research project to investigate an intriguing mystery (November 2020). For about 30,000 years , an archaeological site in Spain served as a campground for Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. While these meat-eating humans left behind tools, ornaments and ash, no bones have been found.
See full story here

Ulla Berg, Bridget Purcell, Louisa Schein and team receive social science research award to study impacts of Covid-19

Congratulations to Ulla Berg, Bridget Purcell, Louisa Schein and colleagues, who won a joint social science research grant for their projects, "Putting Stories to Work: Confronting the Pandemic through New Jersey Narratives" and “Migrant Detention, Deportation, and COVID-19 Transmission: Public Health and Safety Challenges in New Jersey.”  The project includes diverse Rutgers faculty members and research assistants.  The Grant was awarded by the Center for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness.

Click for more about this project

Dr. Erin Vogel (PI) and Colleagues Awarded Global Environmental Change Grant

Dr. Erin Vogel (PI) and her colleagues (Dr. Victoria Ramenzoni (Rutgers, Human Ecology and Graduate Program in Anthropology), Dr. Suci Utami Atmoko (Universitas Nasional, Indonesia), and Daniel Naumenko (former Rutgers undergrad and doctoral student at UC Boulder) have been awarded a Global Environmental Change Grant titled  “Building On-the-Ground Conservation Infrastructure for Long-Term Monitoring of Anthropogenic Air Pollution and Its Impact on Forest Dynamics and Wild Bornean Orangutans”. The Global Environmental Change Grant is offered in partnership between Rutgers Global, the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and the Rutgers Climate Institute. Vogel and her collaborators propose to initiate a study to monitor peatland carbon emissions and document the impacts of smoke on the health of wild Bornean orangutans and the environment in which they live. Combining local air quality monitoring with on-going assessment of forest phenology  and orangutan health will allow detection of the impact of human-induced smoke and climatic variation on local plant and wildlife populations.

Spring 2020 Undergraduate Awards

The Anthropology Department is pleased to announce our spring 2020 undergraduate awards.

Henry Rutgers Scholar Awards
These awards recognize the outstanding theses for the academic year. To be considered for a Henry Rutgers Scholar Award, a student must have presented his/her research at the Aresty Research Center Symposium, a department-based research event, or a professional conference.

Matthew Baldes
Olivia Boss
Rohan Ferriols Alibutud
Christopher Kotkin

Anthropology Department Honors Symposium Awards
Honors students’ presentations of their work are judged based on the merits of the thesis work and quality of presentation.

Olivia Boss – First Prize
Rohan Ferriols Alibutud – First Prize

click here for more

Omar Dewachi Receives New Millennium Book Award

Omar Dewachi was presented with the prestigious New Millennium Book Award for his book, Ungovernable Life: Mandatory Medicine and Statecraft in Iraq  (SUP 2017).  This award, sponsored by the Society for Medical Anthropology, is given biannually to "the author whose work is judged to be the most significant and potentially influential contribution to medical anthropology. Books of exceptional courage and potential impact beyond the field will be given special consideration.”

Link to book's website, Stanford Press: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22595

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello Microbiome Research Featured in Rutgers Magazine Online

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, microbial ecologist and member of the Anthropology Department Faculty, explores the preservation and rebuilding of the human microbiome, which has been severely compromised by overuse of antibiotics and other factors. Her research can have great impact on human health and the practice of medicine.

Link to Article

Erin Vogel received the 2019 Robert W. Sussman Award for scientific contributions to anthropology from the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erin Vogel, Henry Rutgers Term Chair Professor of Anthropology, School of Arts and Sciences, received the 2019 Robert W. Sussman Award for scientific contributions to anthropology from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. See here in the current faculty and staff news letter.

Discover Magazine Article Covers Human Generosity Project

Discover Magazine covers research from the Human Generosity Project, a project created by Lee Cronk (SAS) and other researchers, that found generous societies are more likely to survive during difficult times, quoting Cathryn Townsend (SAS).

Link to article

Human Generosity Project Video

Catalyst, a TV production crew at Arizona State, has created a 25 minute video featuring The Human Generosity Project. This Project, co-directed by Lee Cronk of Rutgers University NB Anthropology Department and Athena Aktipis of Arizona State University, uses multiple methodologies to explore the nature of generosity in people and cultures around the globe. It is the first large-scale transdisciplinary research project to investigate the interrelationship between biological and cultural influences on human generosity.

Link to Human Generosity Project video

Link to Human Generosity Project web site

Festschrift in honor of Robin Fox has been published

See more here.

Erin Vogel, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, is co-director of the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station

Erin Vogel, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, is co-director of the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station. The Tuanan team is currently fighting fires at the station and surrounding forest that are a result of El Niño and small scale fires that have spread throughout the region of Central Kalimantan. Read more about the fires in Indonesia here. Professor Vogel's work on orangutan diet and conservation was recently highlighted in Scientific American.

Lee Cronk's research with The Human Genorosity Project was recently featured in High Country News

Lee Cronk's research with The Human Genorosity Project was recently featured in High Country News, a magazine for those living in the Rocky Mountain region. Dr. Cronk is mentioned as well as graduate student Dennis Sonkoi. Read the article, Why Being a Good Neighbor is a Good Idea.

PDF

Professor Angelique Haugerud's interview on NPR's Leonard Lopate Show

Listen to Professor Angelique Haugerud's interview on NPR's Leonard Lopate Show, Primary Emotions: How Frustration Generates Satire and Political Protest. Haugerud talks about her book, No Billionaire Left Behind: Satirical Activism in America and what her research reveals about protests and the current election cycle.

Professor Erin Vogel was awarded the 2017 Rutgers Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research

Professor Erin Vogel was awarded the 2017 Rutgers Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and was also named as a Henry Rutgers Term Chair Professor (2017-2022).

Professor Erin Vogel received a 3-year research grant from the National Science Foundation (2017-2020) titled “Coping with a challenging environment: a holistic approach to
nutritional immunology in wild Bornean orangutans”. The goal of this project is to understand how nutritional strategy modulates immune function in response to natural variation in nutrient availability in one of our closest living relatives, orangutans.

Professor Erin Vogel received a 2-year research grant from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (2017-2019) focusing on nutritional immunology in wild Bornean orangutans.

Professor Robert Scott has been awarded a 3-year Senior Research Grant

Professor Robert Scott has been awarded a 3-year Senior Research Grant from the National Science Foundation titled "Collaborative Research: Experimental Assessment of Dental Micro-wear Formation”. His research team will conduct experiments designed to evaluate how patterns of microscopic damage in teeth that result from foods of varying mechanical properties should be interpreted to reconstruct diet in fossil humans.