Doctoral students in anthropology receive recognition for excellence

Doctoral students in Binghamton University’s anthropology program are making valuable contributions to the discipline as researchers, teachers and guides.

Four students recently had their accomplishments recognized with Graduate Student Awards for Excellence. Rachael Sebastian and Brian Keeling received awards for Excellence in Research, while Mallory Peters was awarded for Excellence in Teaching and Margaret Duris for Excellence in Service.

“I am thrilled that the university has recognized four of our outstanding graduate students this year, representing a clean sweep of the categories,” said Professor Rolf Quam, chair of the Anthropology Department. “These awards are given to just 1% of the graduate student body at Binghamton and anthropology had the highest number of awards across the university. This is a testament to the high quality of our graduate students and their commitment to their field and the university.”

Excellence in teaching

Originally from northern California, Peters chose Binghamton because of the strength of its faculty research in stress, skeletal biology and anthropology, she said. She’s currently working on her dissertation, which examines whether acute stress interrupts bone metabolism in healthy women.

She has taught a variety of courses at Binghamton as both a teaching assistant and an instructor, including lower-level introductory anthropology courses, as well as classes in the biology of stress, research methods in public health, medical anthropology for pre-health and forensic anthropology.

As an instructor, Peters aims to help students get the most out of the content. For some, that means developing transferrable skills as well as a solid foundation in the material. Students who are passionate about the course require a different approach; Peters encourages them to explore new topics while guiding their next steps, whether through academia, research or field experience.

“One of the things I enjoy most about teaching is seeing students’ interest in the material grow and their confidence in their own understanding grow. Seeing a student’s improvement, and the pride they take in that improvement, is incredibly gratifying,” she said. “This award helps to validate that I am achieving what I set out to, which is making a difference for my students.”

Excellence in research

A Fulbright award recipient, Keeling went to the University of Alcalá in Spain for 18 months to further his research in the evolution of the human jaw. The Illinois native came to Binghamton to study with Professor Rolf Quam and earned his master’s degree in 2020.

Throughout his doctoral research, Keeling collaborated with his Spanish colleagues and headed the development of two software packages that leverage cutting-edge machine learning and statistical techniques to study the jaw’s evolution.

“One of the interesting outcomes of my dissertation is finding out that much of our jaw shape is actually related to everyday use. Everything from the shape of our chin to the internal structures of our jaw joint has a fascinating biomechanical and evolutionary story,” Keeling explained. “I am hopeful that my research and the software I develop can help advance my scientific field and provide a novel perspective in revealing the mysteries behind our human origins.”

Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Sebastian focused her research on the local art community. Initially, she envisioned doing a research project in Tanzania, but the pandemic forced her back to the drawing board, she said.

Sebastian is an artist herself. Chatting with her social circle, she learned how fellow artists used their creative practices to heal from trauma, cope with mental health struggles and get through the difficulties of life. She decided to make this the focus of her dissertation, which applies techniques from narrative studies in linguistic anthropology to photography, painting and drawing.

“One of the main findings I talk about in my dissertation is the role that self-portraits can play for people in changing the way they think about their own image,” she explained. “Some people have used them to help recover from eating disorders, or to regain a sense of ownership and control over their bodies after a traumatic experience.”

Excellence in service

A first-generation college student, Duris comes to Binghamton by way of Wisconsin. She earned her master’s degree in biomedical anthropology in 2018 and came to love the department’s collaborative environment. She stayed on for her doctorate and is currently researching how a woman’s own feeding experiences in infancy affect the composition of her breast milk when she becomes a mother.

During her years in the department, Duris has worked as a research assistant and graduate assistant, aiding faculty members in their work. That includes a stint assisting Professor Emeritus Ralph Garruto with the Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Disease Research Center on campus, in which Duris helped train undergraduate and graduate students doing laboratory analyses and field collections.

She then transitioned into her current role as the department’s graduate assistant for recruitment, promoting anthropology’s graduate and undergraduate degree programs. That includes hosting virtual information sessions and designing displays that showcase the department’s programs and research in fun, accessible ways, as well as organizing large-scale events such as the World Anthropology Day celebrations in 2024 and 2025.

Additionally, she played a key role in launching the undergraduate Anthropology Club and also assists Director Deborah Schechter in mentoring students in the Graduate Program in Biomedical Anthropology.

“Leading with empathy and enthusiasm, my goal is to build supportive communities within my department and the Binghamton area,” said Duris, who plans to work in women’s health after earning her doctorate. “When others succeed, we all succeed.”