Graduate Program Highlights
A Word From Professor Katie AmatoGraduate Student Awards & Honors
Anthropology Ph.D. Dissertations Summer 2025 – Spring 2026
a word from Professor Katie Amato
As always, I think we are all breathing a deep sigh of relief as we head into the summer after a busy year. Our graduate students continue to be stellar intellectually, professionally, and personally. However, the past two years have been a true test of resilience for us all. Changes in the national funding landscape, such as the disappearance of the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate through which anthropology students applied, has made it more difficult for students to fund their research. On top of that, financial constraints at the university level are reducing opportunities for funding student tuition and stipends past the fifth year. In a discipline like anthropology where extended fieldwork and longer times to degree are the norm, this shift has been extremely stressful, particularly for more advanced students who started their degrees in a different funding landscape. Our international students have also faced uniquely difficult circumstances as constantly changing visa guidelines limit their ability to travel and create a backdrop of general uncertainty as they try to determine where and how they will conduct their research.
Despite these clear challenges, our graduate community has continued to grow stronger. Support networks between students as well as mentorship relationships between students and faculty have developed in new ways, and our shared determination to find viable ways forward creates a sense of hope even on the most difficult days. We have also enjoyed some ‘wins.’ While many other departments across campus have been forced to reduce the number of graduate students they enroll, we have been able to maintain our cohort sizes. As usual, our graduate students have been extremely successful in obtaining grants, fellowships, and awards from organizations including the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Lewis and Clark Foundation for Exploration and Field Research, the American Institute of Indian Studies, and even the National Science Foundation. Northwestern’s Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs has provided essential funding to some of our students as well. The Department remains grateful for the generosity of former chair Tim Earle, who continues to provide funding support for student research We have also seen a more active media presence by our graduate students in outlets such as The Daily Northwestern, Sapiens, The Vail Daily, The Jakarta Post, and The Andaman Chronicle. They are making their voices heard.
We were also delighted to announce the launch of the Northwestern University Melville Herskovits Prize for Best Dissertation in Africanist Anthropology. This international prize will be awarded on a biannual basis to the scholar who produces the most groundbreaking dissertation in the field of Africanist Anthropology. It will bear the name of one of the early giants in the field of anthropology, who founded our department and was also a key figure in the University’s history. You can read more about him here.
The Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) has played an active role in community building this year. They hosted eight social events this year including social hours and a Friendsgiving Potluck. They also visited Chinatown, Logan Square, and the Lincoln Park Zoo as part of their ‘Explore Chicago’ series.
Anthropology Graduate Student Association 'Explore Chicago' outings.
Left: AGSA at a bowling event. Right: AGSA on a visit in Chinatown.
We have had nine talented students earn their Ph.D.s since last spring: James Gibb, Bridgette Hulse, İdil Özkan, Daniela Maria Raillard Arias, Sophie Reilly, Atmaezer Hariara Simanjuntak, Dil Singh, Keegan Terek, and Tabor Whitney. They are all on to the next step in their careers, and we look forward to staying in touch with them as they apply their knowledge and expertise in new contexts.
We had five new Ph.D. students begin this fall. It has been a pleasure getting to know them better in our bridging seminar where we discuss papers by our colloquia speakers. I am impressed every year by the commonalities we find across subfields, not only in themes but also methodology. It clearly affirms the four-field foundation that we are trying to provide. This tradition will continue to carry on as I am pleased to report that we recruited eight fantastic students for next fall, including three who will pursue the dual Ph.D./M.P.H. degree in Medical Anthropology.
Sadly, this is my last year as Director of Graduate Studies. Dr. Adia Benton will take over my role starting in the fall. I will miss the built-in opportunities to get to know all of our students so well, but I look forward to finding new ways to create those relationships. I am grateful to the entire Northwestern Anthropology community for the support and teamwork over the past four years. Finally, as always, thank you to Tracy Tohtz for all her hard work and insight. She is the heart of our graduate program.
I wish our students the best this summer as they travel to the field or focus on training, analyzing data, or writing. They are truly inspiring.
Sincerely,
Katie Amato
Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Graduate Student Awards & Honors
Manikandan Abimanyu. Buffett Institute International Pre-Dissertation Research Award
Anna Brown. Graduate Research Grant, The Graduate School (TGS)
Hamideh Dorzadeh. SSRC Dissertation Proposal Development Summer Fellowship
Alicia Fahrner. Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
Layla Joseph. Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholar
Keegan Krause. Human Biology Association Edward E. Hunt, Jr Award, Best Student Podium Presentation
Racheal Oyundoyin. Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research
Prapti Panda. Junior Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies
Amrina Rosyada. Buffett Dissertation Fellowship
Faraz Saberi. Smithsonian 'Semiquincentennial Anniversary of America' Fellowship Award
Mounica Sreesai. Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
Nandini Subramaniam. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Buffett Institute International Pre-Dissertation Research Travel Award
Irene He Zhu. Roberta Buffett Institute International Dissertation Research Travel Award
New Appointments & Positions
James Gibb. Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Indiana
Bridgette Hulse. Senior Analyst in Prospect Research, Advancement Office, University of Chicago
Seyma Kabaoglu. Assistant Professor, Institute of Population and Social Research, Marmara University
Keegan Krause. Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Paula Maia. Research Development Officer, Johns Hopkins University
Hafsa Oubou. Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Smith College
İdil Özkan. Postdoctoral Fellow in Collaborative Humanities, Vanderbilt University
Daniela Raillard. Assistant Professor, Reed College
Sophie Reilly. Assistant Director, Foundation Relations, Boston University
Ara Simanjuntak. Postdoctoral Fellow, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, & Earth Science, University of Miami
Craig T. Stevens. Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Mariam Taher. Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University
Keegan Terek. Visiting Lecturer, Middle Eastern & North African Studies, Bowdoin College
Tabor Whitney. Postdoctoral Fellow, Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Northwestern University
Chelsie Yount. Permanent Research Fellow, CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research)
Anthropology Ph.D. Dissertations Summer 2025 – Spring 2026
James Gibb
Title: Biological Embedding of Stigma and the Healthspans of Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: A Biosocial Analysis of the RADAR Observational Cohort Study
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Summer 2025
Committee: Thom McDade (Chair), Katie Amato, Bill Leonard, Brian Mustanski (MED-NU)
Bridgette Hulse
Title: A Prayer of Their Own: Understanding Writing and Worship through Graffiti in Cathedrals
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Summer 2025
Committee: Matthew Johnson (Chair), Amanda Logan, Richard Kieckhefer (Religious Studies)
Dil Singh
Title: Indian Ocean Globalizations and a Shifting Ontology of Death in Ancient Ethiopia (1000 BCE - 1400 CE)
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Summer 2025
Committee: Amanda Logan (Chair), Cynthia Robin, Matthew Johnson, Matthew Curtis (CSUCI), Tiffiny Tung (Vanderbilt)
Tabor Whitney
Title: Using non-invasive biomarkers and human-wildlife interaction surveys as conservation tools for the endangered Mexican mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata mexicana)
Degree awarded: Ph.D Fall 2025
Committee: Katie Amato (Chair), Thom McDade, and Pedro Dias (Universidad Veracruzana)
Daniela Raillard
Title: Ecologies of Ancestors: Examining Human-Land Relations through Mortuary Architecture in Chachapoyas, Northeastern Peru (690-1650 CE)
Degree awarded: Ph.D Fall 2025
Committee: Mary Weismantel (Chair), Melissa Rosenzweig, Mark Hauser, Cynthia Robin, Parker VanValkenburgh (Brown U)
Ara Simanjuntak
Title: Replanting Debts: Speculative Finance and the Future of Indonesia's Plantation Economy
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Spring 2026
Committee: Robert Launay (Chair), Hiro Miyazaki, Jeffrey Winters (PoliSci), Tania Li (Univ Toronto)
Keegan Terek
Title: “Recognition without Refuge: The Paradox of Sexuality-Based Refugee Protection in Jordan”
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Spring 2026
Committee: Shalini Shankar (Chair), Mary Weismantel, Jessica Winegar
İdil Özkan
Title: Curating Ancestry: Reparative Citizenship, Performative Belonging, and Sephardic Memory
Degree awarded: Ph.D Spring 2026
Committee: Shalini Shankar (Chair), Robert Launay, Jessica Winegar
Sophie Reilly
Title: Reading the Plots: An archaeobotanical study of food preference, imperialism, and narratives in Chachapoyas, Peru
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Spring 2026
Committee: Amanda Logan (Chair), Cynthia Robin, Mary Weismantel, Parker VanValkenburgh (Brown U)