Academic Employment

Associate professor, 2016–present at the Department of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University

Assistant professor, 2009–2016 at the Department of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University

Postdoctoral fellow, 2007–2009 at the Department of Anthropology at Tulane University

Education

Ph.D. in Anthropology (Tulane University)            August 2007

• Dissertation title: Community Heterogeneity and Integration: The Maya Sites of Nacimiento, Dos Ceibas, and Cerro de Cheyo (El Peten, Guatemala) during the Late Classic.
• Master of Arts: May 2004
• Graduate study at the Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans: 2000–2007.

Master of Arts (University of Bonn, Germany)            June 1999

• Master’s thesis on death and burial in Classic Maya culture.
• Undergraduate study at the Institut für Altamerikanistik und Ethnologie at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany (1992 to 1999)
• Major: Anthropology with focus on Latin America. Minors: archaeology; communication science and phonetics.
• Exchange student at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (academic year 1995/1996)

Archaeological Work

Project director of the Tzikin Tzakan Archaeological Project (field and lab seasons in  2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024)

Director of the National Geographic-funded project “Guatemala’s First Petrified Forest: Dead trees and the stories they tell” (2023 to 2025)

Director of the ancient mortars from Caesarea project (2023 and 2024)

Project director of the Project “Sourcing ancient Maya petrified wood (Guatemala)” in 2019

Field director of the Caesarea Archaeological Project (field seasons in 2018 and 2019).

Project director of the Tamarindito Archaeological Project (field and lab seasons in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, and 2024)

• Field season: mapping, test-pitting program, and survey
• Lab season: analysis of all materials from the excavations

 

Project director of the Dos Ceibas Archaeological Project (field and lab season in 2008)

• Field season: extensive test-pitting program that focused on three-room structures and the Preclassic occupation at the site of Dos Ceibas
• Lab season: analysis of all materials from the 2008 excavations

 

Operations director of the second phase Aguateca Archaeological Project directed by Dr. Takeshi Inomata at Aguateca, Guatemala (field seasons in 2004 and 2005; laboratory seasons in 2004 and 2005–2006)

• Laboratory analysis of all materials from Nacimiento and the South Transect in 2005 and 2006
• Field season in 2005: test-pitting and extensive excavations at Nacimiento, survey and test-pitting of the South Transect
• Lab season in 2004: initial analysis of the 2004 material
• Field season in 2004: test-pitting and extensive excavations at Nacimiento

 

Operations director for the supplementary program of the Aguateca Restoration Project directed by Architect Oscar Santos at Aguateca, Guatemala

• Field season in 2003: Mapping and test-pitting at Nacimiento; lab analysis on site
• Field season in 2002: Survey of the Aguateca national reserve; mapping and test-pitting at Nacimiento south of Aguateca

 

Operations director of the Chunchucmil Archaeological Project directed by Dr. Bruce Dahlin at Chunchucmil, Yucatán, México

• Field season in 2001: supervision of the test-pitting program

 

First phase of the Aguateca Archaeological Project directed by Dr. Takeshi Inomata at Aguateca, Guatemala

• Lab analysis of the Barranca Escondida materials in 2001
• Supervision of the excavations at the Barranca Escondida in 1999; participation in the laboratory in 1999
• Participation as volunteer in the excavation of the rapidly abandoned “House of the Axes” (Structure M8-8) in 1998

 

Contract archaeologist for CRM projects in Germany

• Alte Kirche at Garzweiler, Northrhine-Westfalia, in 2000: Excavation of the medieval cemetery
• Kappelberg 1 and Äußeres Pfaffengäßchen in Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1993: Excavation of a medieval monastery and a Roman drainage canal (pages 26–28 and 15–17 in)
• Stephansgasse in Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1992 and 1993: Excavation of a Roman warehouse and market (pages 15–17 in)

Editorial Work

Managing Editor of Human Mosaic in 2003 and 2004

• Issue 34, Numbers 1-2 in 2003
• Issue 35, Number 1 in 2004

Internships

1998 Internship with the United Nations Volunteers in Bonn, Germany; completed the evaluation of databases on UNV programs as part of UNV’s Research and Development Unit.

1994 and 1995 Internships at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (an anthropology museum) in Cologne, Germany; guided tours; maintenance and reorganization of its collections on Mesoamerica and Indonesia

Graphic Design

Graphic Designer for the bimonthly journal Mexicon (1996 to 2007)

• Sample issues: