Current MA and PhD Students
The following are select anthropology graduate degree candidates.
- View MA Recipients
- View PhD Recipients

Sloane Agruss
Email: eagruss@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Geoarchaeology, Sediment Cores, Pacific Archaeology, Palynology, Micropaleontology
Advisor: Seth Quintus

Anthony Alvarez
Email: akalvare@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Anthropological Archaeology, Spanish Colonial Archaeology (Guam, the Philippines, and California), Archaeology of Religion, Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
Advisor: James Bayman

Nadia Arzberger
Email: narzberg@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Archaeology, Pottery, Food Culture, Korea Three Kingdoms, Trade, Yayoi, Yamato, East Asia, Korea, Japan, China
Advisor: Christopher Bae

Ashley Atkins
Email: amatkins@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Biological Anthropology
Research Interests: Bioarchaeology, Entheseal Change/ Musculoskeletal Stress Markers, Neolithic Revolution, Wet Paddy Rice Farming, Jomon, Yayoi, Japan
Advisor: Christopher Bae

Mary Bannister
Email: marybann@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Environmental Health, Psychology, Mental Health, Ethics, Climate Change, Himalayas, Nepal
Advisor: Jan Brunson

Brennan Chambers
Email: bvcham@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Applied Archaeology
Research Interests: Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, Marine Resource Use, Subsistence Economy, Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
Advisor: Jim Bayman

Deirdre Clyde
Email: daclyde@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Japan, United States, Popular Culture, Media Fandom, Gender and Sexuality, Queer Theory
Advisor: Christine Yano

Naomi Doherty
Email: ndoherty@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Applied Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Cultural Health, Youth empowerment, Kuleana Anthropology, Community Building, Public Art/Murals, Artistic Self-Representation, TEK, Community Gardens, Food Sovereignty
Advisor: Ty Tengan

Brendan Flanagan
Email: flanag2@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Environmental Anthropology
Research Interests: Conservation Ethics, Human/Forest Relations, Local Knowledge Dynamics, Ethnic Insurgency, Alternative Economies, Burma/Myanmar
Advisor: Jonathan Padwe

Phoebe France
Email: pfrance@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Paleobotanical Analysis, Spatial Analysis
Advisor: Miriam Stark

Carola (Kaho) Franzen
Email: cfranzen@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Regional Settlement & Demography, Spatial & Quantitative Analysis, (Semi-)Pastoralism, Secondary State Formation, Imperialism, Fortification, NE China, Korean Peninsula, Mongolia, Pre- & Protohistory
Advisor: Christian Peterson

Sione Manupuna Funaki
Email: smfunaki@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Tongan and Hawaiian Kava/'Awa Ceremonies, Diaspora, Indigenous Anthropology, Fonua, Tā-Vā Theory of Reality
Advisor: Ty Tengan

Elena Hughes
Email: ehughes6@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Biological Anthropology
Research Interests: Forensic Anthropology, Osteology, Skeletal Trauma, Criminal Dismemberment, Taphonomy
Advisor: Christopher Bae

Emily Tarbet Hust
Email: etarbet@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Biological Anthropology
Research Interests: Forensic Anthropology, Osteology, Bioarchaeology, Age Estimation Methods, Bone Toxicology, Skeletal Markers of Physiological Stress
Advisor: Christopher Bae

Phianphachong Intarat
Email: pintarat@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Labor Migration in Southeast Asia, Gender, Borderlands Studies
Advisor: Jonathan Padwe

Emmaline Irvine
Email: erirvine@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Applied Archaeology
Research Interests: Pacific Archaeology, Polynesia, Museums, Subsistence, Community Based Archaeology
Advisor: Barry Rolett

Kinsey Justa
Email: khess@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Environmental Anthropology
Research Interests: Southeast Asia and Singapore. Intersection of Cultural Memory and Technology in Urban Coastal Communities. Sustainable Futures
Advisor: Jonathan Padwe

Yi-Yu Lai
Email: yiyulai@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Southeast Asia (the Philippines), Political Anthropology, Anthropology of State, Indigeneity, Indigenous Politics, Resistance, Cultural Activism
Advisor: Alex Golub

Tiffany Lee
Email: tlee7@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Stable Isotopes, Environmental Archaeology, Osteology, Bioarchaeology, East Polynesia
Advisor: Seth Quintus

Pūlama Lima
Email: calima@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Pacific/Hawaiian Archaeology, Indigenous-Community Based Archaeology, Cultural Resource Management (CRM), Ethnohistory, Social Complexity, Archaeology of Ritual & Ideology, Archaeoastronomy
Advisors: Patrick Kirch

Jiawei Liu
Email: jiaweil3@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Medical Anthropology
Research Interests: Reproduction Health, Gender and Sexuality, Feminism, Women's Health, China
Advisors: Jan Brunson

Ci Yan Sara Loh
Email: cysloh@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Environmental Anthropology
Research Interests: Cultural and Political Ecology, Local and Indigenous Knowledge, Climate Change, Resilience and Adaptation, Environmental Policy, Development, Southeast Asia
Advisors: Jonathan Padwe

Yi Ma
Email: mayi@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Gem Trading and Mining, Borders, Markets, Southeast Asia, Southwest China
Advisors: Alex Golub

Erin McConkey
Email: emcconke@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Medical Anthropology
Research Interests: Science and Technology Studies, Animal Studies, Snakebite Envenomation, Pharmaceuticals, Thailand
Advisors: Eirik Saethre

Jacy Miller
Email: jacym@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Western Pacific, Guam's Latte Period, Settlement Pattern, Subsistence Economy, Landscape Archaeology, Ceramic Ecology
Advisor: James Bayman

Fiona Miranda
Email: fionaami@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Biological Anthropology
Research Interests: High-altitude Adaptation, Osteology, Bone Mineral Density and Atrophy, Tibet, China
Advisor: Christopher Bae

Rita Ryan
Email: rkscott@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Medical Anthropology
Research Interests: Chronic Pain, Disability, Feminist, Queer, & Crip Anthropology, Graphic Medicine, Phenomenology
Advisor: Eirik Saethre

Alessandra Shea
Email: agshea@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Environmental Anthropology
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Local and Indigenous Knowledge, Marine Policy, Seascapes, Tahiti
Advisor: Alex Mawyer

Hae Eun Shin
Email: haeeun@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Socialism, Agency, Performing Arts, North Korea
Advisor: Christopher J. Bae

Bailie Smith
Email: bsmith96@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Demilitarization, Hawaiʻi, Kuleana Anthropology, Oral History Interviewing
Advisor: Ty Tengan

Jaratnapa Surinlert
Email: jsurinle@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Prehistoric Archaeology, Southeast Asia, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Human Behavior, Hunter-Gatherer, Environmental Archaeology, Late-Pleistocene to Early Holocene Period, Lithic Analysis
Advisor: Christian Peterson

Catharine Thetford
Email: thetford@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Applied Archaeology
Research Interests: Hawaiian Archaeology, GIS, Remote Sensing, Community Archaeology, Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
Advisor: Seth Quintus

Rachel Tjoeng
Email: rtjoeng@hawaii.edu
Program: PhD · Subfield or Specialization: Medical Anthropology
Research Interests: Community Based Vaccination Programs, Nursing in Biomedicine, Social Determinants of Health, Food Sovereignty, Racial Bias in Medicine, Mothering/ Mother-child Dynamics
Advisor: Jan Brunson

Kylie Tuitavuki
Email: kylietui@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Archaeology
Research Interests: Environmental Archaeology, Community Archaeology, Pre-Contact Western Polynesia, Human-Ecosystem Dynamics, Sustainable Agriculture, Resource Management, Plant-Soil Interactions, Geochemistry
Advisor: Patrick Kirch

Jenny Ung
Email: jennyung@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Cultural Anthropology
Research Interests: Cambodia, Chinese Diaspora, Genocide, Refugees, Migration, Journalism, Transnationalism
Advisor: Jonathan Padwe

Jenessa White
Email: jmw9@hawaii.edu
Program: MA · Subfield or Specialization: Medical Anthropology
Research Interests: Consumption, Subversion, Medicalization of Beauty, Food, Social Media, South Korea
Advisor: Eirik Saethre