Graduate Students
Isabel Coyne
Isabel graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Anthropology. She is currently in the PAPER lab while pursuing her MS in Human Paleobiology. Her research interests involve the study of human evolution via the fossil record and the interpretation of fossil remains using ancient DNA.
Kate Fish
Kate is a PhD candidate in the PAPER lab. She is interested in studying the formation of the mammalian fossil record used to reconstruct hominin habitats. She is currently using methods like agent based modeling to explore the spatial and temporal biases in the fossil record to better understand fossil assemblages from Northern Kenya.
Anita Patane
Anita is a MS student working in the PAPER Lab. She is a McNair Scholar originally from Northern Colorado, where she got her degree in Anthropology (Biological), and minored in French. She has three cats, enjoys electronics, the Metro, and science education. Her research focuses on understanding the functional morphology of early hominin and modern humans’ lower limbs by studying their trackways and anatomical differences distally from the pelvis. She is interested in what this can tell us about ancient environments and populations.
Nick Rosas
Nick Rosas is a PhD student in the PAPER lab. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Anthropology and Minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His research is centered on the evolution of apes and mammalian faunal exchange events during the Miocene epoch.
Kaitlin Sennewald
Kaitlin is an MS student in the PAPER lab. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Environmental Science and Policy and a concentration in Culture and Environment. Her research interests revolve around how environmental change has influenced physical and behavioral adaptations in the genus Homo.
Alum - Nick Burns
Nick Burns graduated with his MS in 2020. Nick’s thesis examined the evidence for competitive exclusion in Miocene mammal communities based on species co-occurrence patterns.
Alum - Alyssa McGrath
Alyssa McGrath graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Anthropology and Italian Studies. She worked in the PAPER Lab during her Masters degree in Human Paleobiology. Her interests within the lab included dental morphology and osteology.