Our department boasts an active and engaged undergraduate research program. Students gain invaluable experience conducting independent research, analyzing data, and presenting their findings at conferences and Oswego's QUEST. The skills acquired through research lead to successful graduate and professional careers where critical thinking, analytical skills, and the application of theory to practice are necessary. Our faculty have two NSF grant funded projects that have taken students on active field research abroad in Kenya and Mexico (Veracruz) and a third with external funding pending in Peru. Our professional laboratories and facilities also provide student experience in archaeometry (materials compositional analysis) and forensics (extensive comparative human, animal, and fossil collection).
Research
Faculty Research Projects
Hominoid origins in a unique paleocommunity: Topernawi Research Project (2021 - present)
Faculty project: Patricia Princehouse
Student research assistants: Rudy Arietta, Josh Winoski
Title: Collaborative Research: Hominoid origins in a unique paleocommunity
Funded by: National Science Foundation (NSF), BCS-Biological Anthropology Division, BCS-2437782
Media-induced Linguistic Innovations in Chinese Address Terms: 女博士， female PhD. (2022 - present)
Faculty project: Jing Lei
Student research assistant: TBD
The Planner's Craft (Zambia) (2020-present)
Faculty project: Rebecca Peters
Student research assistants: Max Cameron '21, Kaleigh Quimby '23
Funded by: Franklin Grant from the American Philosophical Society
Market Development within the Context of Household Exchange and Community Organization
Faculty project: Alanna Ossa
Student Research Assistants: Mackenzie Schmitt, Rudy Arietta, Jylene Figueroa, Joshua Winoski
Title: Market Development within the Context of Household Exchange and Community Organization
Funded by: National Science Foundation, BCS-Archaeology Division, BCS-2410420, Active: 2025-2027/8
Read about it in Oswego Today and the Palltimes.
The Development of the Chincha Polity (AD 600-1100)
Faculty project: Jordan Dalton
Student Research Assistants: Jylene Figueroa
Title: The Development of the Chincha Polity (AD 600-1100)
Funded by: Early Start Research Grant, SUNY Oswego, Scholarly and Creative Activities Grant, SUNY Oswego, and proposed to Wenner-Gren, Active: 2025-2028
Student Research Projects
Anthropology CAPSTONE
As part of our major's program of study, our students design their own original research project in a unique two-series course plan, Research Methods and CAPSTONE. Students propose an original project in any of the four subdisciplines (sociocultural, archaeology, biological, or linguistic), and complete a professional research grant during our Research Methods course. In the following CAPSTONE course, they carry out their research project, write a thesis based on their findings, and present their results at Oswego's own undergraduate research symposium QUEST.
Anthropology CAPSTONE Quest Symposium
Student Quest Presentation
Student Quest Presentation
Student Quest Presentation
Grants
The Saraydar Undergraduate Research Grant
Designed to support undergraduate student research in the fields of archaeology and biological anthropology. This grant supports and encourages independent undergraduate research activity in anthropology and is open to SUNY Oswego Anthropology majors and minors, who are in their third, or junior, year of study. To apply, see "Student Grants."