CURRENT AGSA PROFILES
View the profiles of our students to learn more about who we are and what we do. Our grads come from all over the country and focus on a variety of anthropological issues. If you have further questions for our students please feel free to reach out to them through email by clicking on their name.
Saz Benchekroun
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Saz Benchekroun graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Geology. She is currently a Master’s student in the Applied Anthropology program at SDSU with a focus in Digital Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. Upon completion of the Master's Program, Saz intends to continue on to a doctoral program as well as work alongside NGOs and non-profit orginizations in the prusuit of digitally curating world culutral heritage site for the purpose of preservation, conervation and discovery.
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Angel studied Cultural Anthropology and Writing at University of Maryland Baltimore County, graduating in 2016, before coming to San Diego State to pursue her MA under thesis chair Dr. Ramona Perez. She is primarily interested in sport anthropology, feminist anthropology, race, and gender studies. She is beginning her research on disordered eating as a phenomenon among female long distance runners, with a focus on embodiment and agency, and how identity is negotiated and maintained through sport. She plans on continuing her education after completing her master's degree to continue research on female empowerment and identity through sport.
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Megan Carey
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Megan Carey graduated from Brandeis University in 2015 with a BA in Anthropology and Public Health (HSSP). She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Anthropology at San Diego State University. Her interests include bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, paleopathology, and repatriation of human remains and cultural patrimony. She is currently employed as a curation technician by the Pechanga Cultural Department where she develops exhibits and works with cultural resource collections.
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Dempsey is an applied anthropology student at SDSU. Her interests include sensory anthropology, acoustic ecology, comparative education studies, anthropology of science and technology, and sound politics. She is interested in how sound is policed in classroom environments and semi-public spaces, and how media and technology influence soundscapes. Before coming to SDSU, Dempsey attended California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo for her B.S. in anthropology and geography (2015), completing an undergraduate thesis archiving the documents of a San Diego art and music organization, Associated Arts and the discussing the role of female leaders in social clubs and scholarship pageants during the mid-century. She worked as a field researcher with the Centers for Research on Creativity (CRoC) participating in an active teacher-teaching artist collaboration across three elementary schools. After completing her graduate degree, she plans to continue her education.
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Kat earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology at SDSU in 2018 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology at SDSU. Her focus is archaeology, specifically geoarchaeology and using GIS for spatial analysis. She also has Interests in historical, prehistoric archaeology, geology and anthropogenic landscapes. She has also been a part of the Nathan Harrison field schools.
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Kat Davis
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Yesenia earned her B.A in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2013. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, she was employed as an Archaeological Technician for Dudek Environmental Consultants, where she is currently still employed. She began the Master of Arts program in Anthropology at San Diego State University in 2016 with an intended research focus in California coastal archaeology. She specifically aims to address the causes of resource depression and intensification (food sources, technological advancements) among the prehistoric Chumash, by focusing on the effects environmental stimuli had on prehistoric Chumash populations. She will accomplish this through the temporal analysis of archaeological deposits from the mainland and/or Channel Islands. In addition, because archaeological deposits are a non-renewable resource, conducting research of non-analyzed existing data/collections is absolutely necessary and an important venture. Other interests include experimental archaeology, lithic analysis, craft specializations, zoo archaeology, collections management and cultural resource management. She plans to incorporate multi-interdisciplinary methods in her research, such as Arc GIS, and Statistical programs: MYSTAT and SYSTAT. Ultimately, she seeks to further her education and enroll in a Ph.D. program.
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Natalia Galeana graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in Anthropology in 2017. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Historical Archaeology under Dr.Mallios. She is interested in conservation, preservation, and chemical analyses techniques that will benefit Historical Archaeology in Southern California. Natalia has gained experience by volunteering in various archaeological based fields such as surveying for the San Diego County Archaeological Society's Climate Change Surveys, Collections Management at both The San Diego Museum of Man and SDSU and Zooarchaeology at The Natural History Museum. She also participated in the San Diego State University Nathaniel Harrison 2017 spring field school at Palomar Mountain.
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Natalia Galeana
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Sam holds a BA in Anthropology with a concentration in Historical Archaeology from James Madison University (2010). Her research interest include development, sustainability, cultural impacts on subsistence-based communities, material culture, resource management, globalization, corruption, education systems, ethnomusicology and Latin America.
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Shelby earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Anthropology at Texas State University in 2014 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at SDSU with a focus in biological anthropology. Her specific research interests are in bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, skeletal biology, human rights and Latin America culture. She hopes to be able to assist in the identification of human remains with the goal of returning them to their loved ones.
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As the Military & Veterans Program Administrator at San Diego State University, Todd represents the University's military and veteran program at various regional, state, and national venues; is responsible for the implementation of new military/veteran support programming; and is an advocate, adviser, and troubleshooter for administrative and transition challenges faced by the military student body. He came to San Diego State University following a 22 year career in the United States Marine Corps and completed his undergraduate degree in History (summa cum laude) in 2016. He is a past-president of the Student Veteran Organization at SDSU; maintains involvement in a number of volunteer and philanthropic ventures; and stays committed to the overall academic success, professional development, and personal growth of today's military and veteran students. Todd is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Anthropology where his research interests revolve around the identity of the military and veteran community and exploring the factors which influence the perceptions of this population both internally and externally.
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Roxanne received her B.A. in Anthropology from San Jose State University in 2010. She then went on to receive an A.S. in Forensic Technology/Criminal Justice from Grossmont College in June of 2015. Her main research interests are to be able to work at field sites internationally and assist communities in the identification of family members and friends that have been lost due to genocide, homicide, human rights violations, and mass fatalities.
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Scott received his BA in anthropology from San Diego State University in 2015. He is pursuing his MA in general anthropology at San Diego State with a focus in bioarchaeology. He is research interests include osteology, pathology, and histological analysis.
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Cassandra Wilson is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at San Diego State University. Her concentration is in medical anthropology, with specific research interests in elective vaccine refusal within minority populations. Her interests include not only the knowledge and beliefs held by refusing populations but also those of health care providers themselves. She also is interested in the effects of racism and classism in epidemiology, and the ways in which fear and mistrust within socially marginalized populations alter the outcomes of healthcare programs.
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Graduates Without Bios:
Christian Allen, Marissa Allen, Hilary Llamas, Kathleen Stanford
Christian Allen, Marissa Allen, Hilary Llamas, Kathleen Stanford