2025-26 Stapleton Recipients
Posted in Announcements | Tagged awards, Stapleton, students
The Department of Anthropology is excited to announce the recipients of the Stapleton Award for 2025-2026! Please click here for more information about the Stapleton Award
Jasmine Chen
Supported by the Stapleton Award, Jasmine traveled to the Transylvanian region of Romania to participate in an Adult Osteology Laboratory Research Workshop on Medieval Crisis Populations. Led by practicing bioarchaeologists from ArchaeoTek, an international bioarchaeological research and training organization, and hosted in partnership with the Haáz Rezső Museum in Odorheiu Secuiesc, she had the opportunity to conduct hands-on surveys, reconstructions, and analyses of human remains excavated from the Papdomb site, a medieval, historically Hungarian-Székely church and cemetery located in Văleni, Romania. The month-long program included intensive training in human osteology, with lectures on paleopathology, trauma, osteometrics, and applied methods in forensic and bioarchaeological analysis.
Ultimately, the workshop culminated in a self-directed research project focused on an individual exhibiting skeletal dysplasia, a rare condition likely of genetic etiology, resulting in disproportionate short stature. Jasmine, working with a small group of fellow workshop participants, conducted detailed morphological and morphometric analyses, carried out a differential diagnosis, and examined musculoskeletal stress markers and mortuary treatment to assess the individual’s social inclusion in a rural medieval context. Framed within the bioarchaeology of care and theories of embodiment, the case study was presented at the 12th Annual International Student Colloquium on Osteology and Bioarchaeology in Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania. Jasmine is deeply grateful for the opportunity to have taken part in such a meaningful research experience and looks forward to continuing to explore topics of biosociality and embodiment!
Jordan Guzzi
Jordan’s Stapleton research examines how classical music facilitates community engagement and improves social health. Through ethnographic analysis of performing arts cultures in New York City and Washington D.C. and interviews with classical musicians and audience members, she is seeking to understand the prevalence of musical culture, the socio-cultural contexts in which classical music is performed and received, and how individuals engage with classical music. Ultimately, she hopes to shed light on the importance of arts engagement for greater public health and wellbeing.
Caroline Lacitignola
Caroline Lacitignola’s research examines the structural power behind the DREAM Project, a global health initiative of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Her ethnographic study focuses on how decisions made at the organization’s headquarters influence healthcare delivery in various sites in Malawi. With support from the Stapleton Award, Caroline will travel to Malawi to conduct interviews and participant observation at DREAM clinics. The funding will support her travel and lodging as she explores how global health priorities are enacted in local clinical settings.
Abbey Murray
The Stapleton Award allowed Abbey to travel to Gozo, Malta and participate in the Off the Beaten Track program, the world’s longest-standing field school for cultural anthropology and humanities. In Malta, she conducted extensive ethnographic research on the island’s inhabitants, observing daily life, arranging interviews, and building intimate relationships. She concluded her research by creating an academic poster, and she is currently in the process of completing a research paper to be published in a peer-reviewed online journal.