
HOFMAN WORKING GROUP
Dr. Courtney Hofman
Laboratory Co-Director
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Microbiomes; Historical Ecology; Mitogenomes; Human-Environment Interactions
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate and Academia.edu
Email: courtney.hofman@ou.edu
Rita Austin
PhD Student
Research Interests: Museum biomolecules and collections; conservation and curation techniques; differential biomolecule recovery; human pathogens; bioarchaeology; osteology
Email: rmaustin@ou.edu
Robin Singleton
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular and Conservation Anthropology
Email: rgsingleton@ou.edu
Kristen Rayfield
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular Anthropology; Oral Microbiome; Dental Calculus; co-evolution of pathogens and humans; paleopathology; bioarchaeology
Email: kristen.m.rayfield-1@ou.edu
Sterling Wright
Master’s Student
Research Interests: Microbiomes, Dental Calculus, Archaeogenetics, Bioarchaeology, Pathogenomics
Email: sterlingwright2016@ou.edu
Karissa Hughes – Undergraduate
VISITING SCHOLARS
Janet C. Buckner
Visiting Postdoc
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology
Iowa State University
Hannah Wellman
Visiting PhD Student
Department of Anthropology
University of Oregon
LaShanda Williams
Visiting PhD Student
Department of Evology, Evolution and Natural Resources
Rutgers University
ALUMNI
Mecca Djahedian – Undergraduate
Husayn Ramji – Undergraduate
KEMP WORKING GROUP
Dr. Brian Kemp
Laboratory Co-Director
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Forensics, Population History, Human-Animal Interactions
See also: OU Faculty Page
Email: bmkemp@ou.edu
Dr. Cara Monroe
Research Scientist
Research Interests: North American archaeology, ancient DNA, Forensic DNA, Population genetics, Cultural response to environmental and social change
See also: Academia.edu
Email: monroecara@ou.edu
Brittany Bingham
Research Assistant
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human Evolution, Peopling of the Americas, and Primatology.
Email: brittany.l.bingham-1@ou.edu
Raven Blankenship
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Interests: Human Evolution
Email: Raven.L.Blankenship-1@ou.edu
Mary Faith Flores
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human-animal interactions, molecular biology
Email: mary.faith.c.flores-1@ou.edu
Golya Shahrokhi – Graduate Student
Upuli DeSilva – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Olivia Brooks – Undergraduate Research Assistant
VISITING SCHOLARS
Joel Olvera
Graduate Student
Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia
Brandon Postoak
Medical Student
Oklahoma State University Medical School
ALUMNI
Ryan Frome – Undergraduate
Marie Labonte – Undergraduate
LEWIS WORKING GROUP
Dr. Cecil M. Lewis, Jr.
Laboratory Co-Director
Presidential Research Professor, Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human Microbiome, Population Genetics; Disease-Associated Genetic Variation;
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate
Office Phone: 405-325-3415; Email: cmlewis@ou.edu
Dr. Tanvi Honap
Assistant Research Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Pathogen Evolution; Zoonotic Diseases; Ancient DNA; Microbiomes; Bioinformatics
See also: ResearchGate, LinkedIn
Email: tanvi.honap@ou.edu
Dave Jacobson
PhD Student
Research Interests: Reproductive Microbiome; Evolutionary Medicine; Population Genetics; Public Health; Brazil
Email: dkjacobson@ou.edu
Justin Lund
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular Anthropology; Ancient DNA; Population Genetics; Peopling of the Americas
Email: justinlund@ou.edu
Jacob Haffner
Master’s Student
Research interests: Molecular anthropology; Metabolomics; Paleopathology; Human microbiome; Epidemiology
Email: jacob.haffner@ou.edu
Abigail Gamble
Master’s Student
Research interests: Ancestry; Population genetics; Human microbiome; Bioarchaeology; Ancient DNA
Email: abigail.gamble@ou.edu
ALUMNI
Dr. Allison Mann – PhD
Dr. Andrew Ozga – PhD
Dr. Lauren Cleeland – PhD
Dr. Alexandra Obregon-Tito – PhD
MCCALL WORKING GROUP
Dr. Laura-Isobel McCall
Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Interests: host-parasite interactions; microbial disease pathogenesis; microbiome and disease susceptibility; disease tropism; metabolomics; mass spectrometry; chemical cartography
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate, Laboratory
Email: lmccall@ou.edu
Shelley Kane
Research Technician
Adwaita Ramesh Parab
Undergraduate
ALUMNI
Danyang Li – Undergraduate
SANKARANARAYANAN WORKING GROUP
Dr. Krithi Sankaranarayanan
Laboratory Co-Director
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
Research Interests: Microbial Ecology; Biogeography, Evolution, and Phylogenetics; Microbiome Informatics; Microbiome-Host Interactions; Ancient DNA; Evolution in Hypersaline Ecosystems
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate, Laboratory
Email: ksankar@ou.edu
Dr. Sharmily Khanam
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Co-advised by Cecil Lewis
Email: khanams@ou.edu
Christine Woelfel-Monsivais
PhD Student
Research Interests: Forensic Microbiology, Metagenomics, Decomposition Microbiome
Email: christinewm@ou.edu
Samuel Miller
PhD Student
Research Interests: Human microbiome; Microbial Ecology; metagenomics, food microbiology; cave microbiology; white nose syndrome; anaerobes
Email: sammiller@ou.edu
ALUMNI
Dr. Nisha Patel – PhD
Jaycie Thaemert – PhD
Manny Donkor – PhD
STAFF
Elizabeth Young
Managerial Associate I
Email: elizabeth.s.young@ou.edu
Nihan Dilsad Dagtas
Research Fellow
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Human-Animal Interactions; Population Genetics; Molecular Evolution; Phylogeography
See also: ResearchGate
Email: nihandd@ou.edu
RESEARCH AFFILIATES
Dr. Christina Warinner
Group Leader of Microbiome Sciences
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; University Professor of Biological Sciences
Dr. Paul Lawson
Professor of Microbiology
University of Oklahoma
Dr. Paul Spicer
Professor of Anthropology
University of Oklahoma
Dr. Stephanie Schnorr
Postdoctoral Fellow
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research