Research & Internships


What are current students doing?

♦ Camille Martin (Class of 2023) began her studies at Seton Hall University in 2010 and, after an extended break, returned to finish them in 2021. Forensic Anthropology has always been an abiding interest and with Dr. Rhonda Quinn’s guidance in courses such as Human Osteology and as well as learning about isotopes in forensic applications with missing people, she has found ways to pursue this through summer internships. In the summers of 2021 and 2022, she worked alongside graduate students and Dr. Erin Kimmerle at the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology & Applied Science Lab, University of South Florida. She assisted in fieldwork at several locations, prepared a donor for the outdoor facility body farm, and assisted in the excavation, cleaning and processing of skeletal remains. She intends to pursue further studies in Forensic Anthropology as well as Bioarcheology. On her last semester, she is working with Dr. Quizon on learning ArcGIS and building an interactive Storymap based on new multi-site research into the use of isotope methods on banana fiber textiles from the Philippines and Taiwan. Camille graduated in Fall 2022 with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Sociology. She also published her Senior Seminar paper written under the guidance of Dr. Peter Savastano entitled “A New Epidemic: Missing Black and Indigenous People and Their Portrayal in Media” in volume 6 (2023) of Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research. She is currently pursuing  graduate studies at New York University’s Program in Human Skeletal Biology.

♦ Bitha Beji (Class of 2024) will be graduating in Spring 2024 with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Anthropology. She came into Seton Hall with a passion for science, and this passion developed to a greater capacity when she took Physical Anthropology with Dr. Barca her freshman year, piquing her interest, and motivating her to pursue an anthropology minor. While becoming an undergraduate researcher within the Biochemistry Department working with gas chromatography and stimulants, she also participated in various Petersheim Expositions and the Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting for Chemistry, balancing anthropology courses at the same time. She was also initiated into the Lambda Alpha Honor Society for Anthropology, and continues to endeavor in anthropological pursuits. She has completed an Independent Study research project with Dr. Quizon on examining dyes and beeswax on abaca (banana) fibers from Mindanao in the Philippines through photospectrometry, as well as observing how the chemical composition of such dyes and wax would affect the color of the material. She presented her finding at the Spring 2023 Petersheim Academic Exposition and published her paper “Anthropological and Photospectrometry Analysis of Natural Dyes in Banana Textiles of the Philippines” in volume 6 (2023) of Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research.

♦ Ciana Vrtikapa (Class of 2022) graduated in Spring 2022 with degrees in Anthropology, Philosophy, Classical Studies, with a minor in Ancient Greek. Her abiding love for languages extends beyond the classics; she spent many years of advanced study of Japanese, an interest arising from a year spent there during a high school exchange program. She is one of two undergraduate students selected to participate in the NJ State Challenge Grant-funded project “Hidden Voices of Disaster,” an interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty and students in Anthropology, History and Asian Studies that seeks to explore narratives and counternarratives of resilience in the face of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Triple Disaster in Japan as well as the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) in the Philippines. Among her many duties, Ciana managed the project’s IRB waiver approval process and helped build the project blog. Her paper “Typhoon Yolanda: How “resilience” masks the voices of the vulnerable” was published in volum 5 (2022) of  Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research. She has been accepted into the highly competitive Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) and looks forward to reacquainting herself with Japan when she begins her sojourn there in July 2022.

♦ Jared Alvarez (Class of 2022) graduated in Spring 2022 with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Psychology. His original interest was Forensic Anthropology, but as he entered his second year at Seton Hall, he shifted his focus towards Legal Studies. In November 2021, he began a legal internship under the Honorable Verna G. Leath. Judge Leath is currently assigned to the Criminal Division of Essex County Veterans Courthouse, presiding over two calendars, criminal and mental health court. Throughout his internship, Jared has worked on his legal writing, familiarity with legal jargon, and has made vital connections with attorneys and judges in preparation for Law School in 2023. Jared intends on applying his Anthropological and Psychological backgrounds in his legal career to offer unique insights when it comes to important cross-cultural concepts such as human-rights and religion, in hopes of recognizing cultural differences. Jared has recently started another position as an Editor for Seton Hall University’s Anthropology Blog, updating the blog with the recent Anthropology-related events and the accomplishments of students, alumni, and faculty.

♦ Chabelly Bonilla (Class of 2023) won a best student paper prize in the 2022 Petersheim Academic Exposition on “Reprocessed Medical Equipment: Through The Bioethical Lens” as part of the Bioethics Panel organized by Dr. Brian Pilkington of SHMS/Nursing/Philosophy. She is graduating in Spring 2023 with a degree in Anthropology.

Current Student Projects.

Spring 2023 Opportunities (contact our Anthropology blog intern or Dr. Quizon for more info)

Past Student Projects.

  • Anthropology students are contributing data and conducting research on language and society.  Check out the multi-year Digital Humanities project Language Maps, Language Clouds.
  • Anthropology students present papers funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants for undergraduate research in national conferences in Physical/Biological Anthropology – 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |