CIAMS alumni follow a wide range of career paths. Over half of the students in our MA program go on to pursue a PhD in Anthropology, Classics, or Near Eastern Studies. The large majority who apply to PhD programs are successfully admitted. A number of our alumni choose to work in the heritage sector, from cultural and natural resource management, to laboratories and libraries. For others still, CIAMS is a stepping stone to careers in education, information technology, or other fields.
We support our students in achieving their career goals and are proud of their diverse achievements. If you are a member of our alumni community, please stay in touch. If you are a prospective student and would like to learn more about the professional trajectories of our alumni, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies.
Cornell University has offered M.A. degrees in Archaeology since 1987, and awarded Ph.D. degrees to affiliates in archaeologically-related fields since 1976. The list below shows recent graduates, from 2010 to the present.
CIAMS Alumni Directory
| NAME AND DEGREE | YEAR | FIELD | THESIS OR DISSERTATION TITLE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria Albano, M.A. | 2020 | Archaeology | Thesis: 18th and 19th Century Turkish Prayer Rugs as Objects Possessing Agency: Portable Materials Linking the Material, Social, and Immaterial Worlds Through Motifs, Usages, and Mobility |
| Evan Allen, Ph.D. | 2024 | History of Art | Dissertation: Meaning in the Making: Epistemologies of Production in the Art of Roman Wall Painting |
| Nikhil Arolkhar, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys in the Upper Robert H. Treman State Park, New York. |
| Sam Barber, Ph.D. | 2021 | Medieval Studies | Dissertation: "The Fitting Face of Empire": Palaces and Power in the Early Middle Ages |
| Elizabeth Bews, M.A. | 2018 | Archaeology | Thesis: After Accession: EU Funding and Archaeological Practice in Bulgaria |
| Jenna Bittenbender, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Role of Off-Island Objects and Materials in Creating Hierarchy: Evidence for Social Ranking at Mochlos During the Early Minoan Period |
| Salpi Bocchieriyan, M.A. | 2020 | Archaeology | Thesis: Building a Burial on a Budget: Mortuary Practice and Socio-Economic Boundary-Making in Classical Armenia |
| Douglas Braun, M.A. | 2022 | Archaeology | Thesis: Bad Horses: Herakles and the Mares of Diomedes in Greek Art of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BCE |
| Kelli Breeden, M.A. | 2020 | Archaeology | Thesis: Occurrences of false rings and IADFs in pine in Northwest Mexico. |
| William Breitweiser, M.A. | 2015 | Archaeology | Thesis: Plaster Cast Collections in the Colonial World: Connections Between Classics and Racial Ideology |
| Liana Brent, Ph.D. | 2019 | Classics | Dissertation: Corporeal Connections: Tomb Disturbance, Reuse and Violation in Roman Italy |
| Dusti Bridges, M.A. | 2018 | Archaeology | Thesis: Translating Archaeology into Stories: Creating a Digital Resource for the Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) Townley-Read and White Springs Sites, occupied circa 1688-1754 |
| Charles Burgess, M.A. | 2010 | Archaeology | Thesis: Mapping Muhheakunnuk: GIS and the Living Landscapes of the Mohican |
| Polly Anna Burnette, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: Zooarchaeology and Spatial Analysis at Tepe Farukhabad: New Life for Legacy Data |
| Asa Cameron, M.A. | 2016 | Archaeology | Thesis: A Stable Isotopic (Carbon And Nitrogen) Evaluation Of Regional Differences In Herded Animal Diet And Pastoral Risk Management Practices During The Xiongnu Period Of Mongolia |
| Micaela Carignano, Ph.D. | 2018 | Classics | Dissertation: Reconstructing Minoan Dining Practice and Sociopolitical Organization in Neopalatial Households and Palaces |
| Taylor Carr-Howard, M.A. | 2020 | Archaeology | Thesis: Picturing Antiquity, Depicting Archaeology: Photography, Restoration, and the French Colonial Imagination |
| Jennifer Carrington, Ph.D. | 2019 | Classics | Dissertation: Striking similarity: Pottery features and their relations in Ptolemaic Egypt |
| Chelsea Cole, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Kommos and a Great Minoan Triangle: Rethinking the Early - Middle Minoan Political and Economic Landscape of South-Central Crete |
| Alma Cortez Alvarez, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Cross-Cultural Engagement and the Biblical Representation of Israel at Abel and Dan |
| Alexandra Creola, M.A. | 2014 | Archaeology | Thesis: An Analysis of the Spatial Relationships of Domestic Nymphaea at Lararia in Pompeii |
| Andrew Crocker, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Rural Landscape Practices and Authority: Iron Age Cyprus and Assyria |
| Mary Danisi, Ph.D. | 2024 | Classical Archaeology | Dissertation: Crafting the Cosmos: Fillets and Ritual Adornment in Ancient Greek Religion |
| Ethan Dickerman, M.A. | 2022 | Archaeology | Thesis: Fashionable Tea Bowls at a Humble Palatine Dwelling: Ceramics as Expressions of Identity & Tools for Community Cohesion at the Maple Avenue Parsonage in Germantown, NY |
| Samuel Disotell, M.A. | 2021 | Archaeology | Thesis: An Analysis of Faunal Materials From the White Springs Site, a 17th-18th Century Seneca Town in Upstate New York |
| Sarah Eastly, M.A. | 2012 | Archaeology | Thesis: A Question of Faith: Jesuit Missions to the Seneca Iroquois As Viewed Through Archaeological and Textual Records |
| Robyn Epstein, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Church as Museum, Spolia as Artifact: Reuse in Roman Churches, ca. 300-1200 |
| Ece Erlat, M.A. | 2022 | Archaeology | Thesis: Collaborative Indigenous Archaeology In Turkey?: The Sardis Case. |
| Bonnie Etter, M.A. | 2016 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Large-Scale Intra-Site Analysis of Artifact Data at Gault, Texas |
| Yuan Fang, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Favorite Animal: The Horse as Mingqi in Han Tombs |
| Ned Fischer, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Iron Men: Roman Masculinity and the Roman Military Dagger |
| Carrie Fulton, Ph.D. | 2016 | Classics | Dissertation: Lost in Transportation: Trade Networks and the Materiality of Cargoes in the Ancient Mediterranean |
| Liming Gao, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Exploring the Interplay of Religious and Worldly Dynamics through the Development of the Dunhuang Grottos. |
| Peregrine Gerard-Little, M.A., Ph.D. | 2011 2018 | Archaeology Anthropology | Thesis: Understanding the Built Environment at the Seneca Iroquiois White Springs Site (1688-1715): Incorporation of Large-Scale, Multi-Instrument Archaeogeophysical Survey Dissertation: "A pleasure garden in the desert, to which I know no comparison in this country”: Seneca Iroquois Landscape Stewardship in the 17th and 18th Centuries |
| Rebecca Gerdes, Ph.D. | 2024 | Classical Archaeology | Dissertation: Assessing the use of organic residue analysis to investigate plant oils in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean: An environmentally and archaeologically contextualized approach |
| Jasmine Gollup, M.A. | 2011 | Archaeology | Thesis: An Overview and Analysis of 'Proto-Susquehannock' Sites in the Upper Susquehanna River Valley |
| John Gorczyk. M.A., Ph.D. | 2012 2020 | Archaeology Anthropology | Thesis: Communal Consumption at Late Neolithic Sarnevo: Faunal Evidence from a Pit Site in South Central Bulgaria Dissertation: Fields of Care: Placing Animal-Human Communities in the Early Neolithic of the Sofia Basin, Bulgaria |
| Katie Guttman, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: Residents: Invisible Residents: Archaeological Evidence and the Question of Indigenous Presence at House C of British Fort Michilimackinac, 1765-1781 |
| Kathryn Hall, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Violent and Vulnerable Bodies: Negotiations of Mycenaean Warrior Ideology in Mortuary and Iconographic Contexts. |
| Betty Hensellek, Ph.D. | 2020 | History of Art | Dissertation: The Age of the Polychrome Kaftan: a Sartorial System of Central Eurasia (400-900 CE) |
| Grace Hermes, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Polychromy in Corinthian Anatomical Votives |
| Jeanine Hoy, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: What About Her? Mortuary Practice and Gender Identities at Kanesh |
| Kathryn Hudson, M.A. | 2011 | Archaeology | Thesis: A Preliminary Lexicon of Ulua Medallion Motifs |
| Skylar Jackim, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Invisible Violence at Tell el-Amarna: A Call for an Expansion of the Structural Violence Framework in Bioarchaeology. |
| Katherine Jarriel, Ph.D. | 2018 | Classics | Dissertation: Small Worlds After All? Landscape and Community Interaction in the Cycladic Bronze Age
|
| Alaina Kaiser, M.A. | 2013 | Archaeology | Thesis: Copper Oxhide Ingot Marks: A Catalogue and Comparative Analysis |
| Katie Kearns, Ph.D. | 2015 | Classics | Dissertation: Unruly landscapes: The making of 1st millennium BCE polities on Cyprus |
| Cynthia Kocik, M.A. | 2014 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Edges of Wood: Dendrochronological Analysis of Three Seneca Iroquois Structures at Letchworth State Park, 1796-1831 |
| Matthew Krohn, M.A. | 2010 | Archaeology | Thesis: Innovation and Identity in Seneca Iroquois Lithic Debitage: Analysis of Stone Tools from the White Springs and Townley-Read Sites, Circa 1688-1754 |
| Kaitlin LaGrasta, M.A. | 2021 | Archaeology | Thesis: "Binding the People Together:" Onöndowa'ga:' (Seneca) Glass Beads, Aesthetics, and Economy, 1670-1754 |
| Nicholas Lashway, M.A. | 2015 | Archaeology | Thesis: Resettlement of the Bdul and its effect on Preservation Initiatives at Petra, Jordan |
| Jeffrey Leon, Ph.D. | 2016 | Classics | Dissertation: Beyond 'counting sheep': Isotopic approaches to Minoan and Late Cypriot shepherding |
| Fredrika Loew, M.A. | 2016 | Archaeology | Thesis: Gods and Scholars: Studying Religion at a Secular University |
| Alex Marko, M.A. | 2014 | Archaeology | Thesis: Seeing Archaeology In 3D: Digital Spatial Vision |
| Isabelle Martínez-Muñiz, M.A. | 2012 | Archaeology | Thesis: Ceramic Innovation and Interregional Interaction: A Study from Formative Cahal Pech, Belize |
| William Mastandrea, M.A. | 2016 | Archaeology | Thesis: Cupellation at Kea: Investigating Potential Applications of the Minoan Conical Cup |
| Andrea Mauri, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Expansionist Theater: Inca Capacocha Processions and the Sound of Empire. |
| Angela McArdle, M.A. | 2014 | Archaeology | Thesis: When Trash Becomes Treasure: A Postclassic Maya Obsidian Core Cache from Nojpeten |
| Sarah McCully, M.A. | 2020 | Archaeology | Thesis: Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: Creating Archaeological Education Resource with Local Teachers' Needs in Mind |
| Jane Millar, M.A. | 2021 | Archaeology | Thesis: Kepeia: The Market Gardens of Classical Attica |
| Eilis Monahan, M.A., Ph.D. | 2010 2019 | Archaeology Near Eastern Studies | Thesis: Dwelling with the Dead: Mortuary Landscapes and the Production of Community During the Prehistoric Bronze Age on Cyprus Dissertation: Structural Violence: Warfare, Fortification, and the Disciplinary Landscape in Bronze Age Cyprus |
| Tara Morgan, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Romanization of Britain Through Garden Plants. |
| Amanda Moutner, M.A. | 2013 | Archaeology | Thesis: Understanding landscape Modification at White Springs Manor, Geneva, New York An Archaeological and Historical Study |
| Louisa Nash, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Cosmos in Clay: An Analysis of Avery Engraved Vessel Motifs |
| Marianna Nichols, M.A. | 2018 | Archaeology | Thesis: Jewish Identities and Traditions within the Hellenistic Period: Funerary Unguentaria as Evidence of Inventive Tradition |
| Annapaola Passerini, Ph.D. | 2024 | Anthropology | Dissertation: From Order to Narrative: Assembling Eventfulness through Bayesian Chronologies. A view from the early Bronze Age Caucasus. |
| Lindsay Petry, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: Echoes in the Bones: An Osteological Analysis of the Biological Impact of Roman Rule at Corinth, Greece |
| Jessica Plant, M.A., Ph.D. | 2017 2023 | Archaeology Art and Archaeology | Thesis: Asia Minor Ampullae: A Class of Their Own? Dissertation: Stucco as a Transformative Medium in Roman Antiquity (ca. 200 BCE - 700 CE) |
| Elizabeth Proctor, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: A Preliminary Geochemical Characterization of Relief Ceramics from the Nadin Necropolis |
| Beth Ryan, Ph.D. | 2017 | Anthropology | Dissertation: Crowding the Banks: the Historical Archaeology of Ohagi and the Post-revolutionary Haudenosaunee Confederacy, ca. 1780-1826 |
| Samantha Sanft, M.A., Ph.D. | 2013 2021 | Archaeology Anthropology | Thesis: Beads and Pendants from Indian Fort Road: A Sixteenth Century Cayuga Site in Tompkins County, New York Dissertation: The Circulation of Shell and Copper Objects in the Circa 1450- 1600 Haudenosaunee Homeland |
| Katherine Seufer, M.A. | 2015 | Archaeology | Thesis: Dendroarchaeology in Sisak, Croatia (Siscia): Roman Urbanism and Colonia Status |
| Laryssa Shipley, M.A. | 2018 | Archaeology | Thesis: A Phenomenological Approach to the Kom el-Shuqafa Catacombs |
| Lizzette Soto, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Uncovering Communities of Practice in the Valle de Naco, Honduras |
| Emily Stanton, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: In the Footsteps of Saints and Sheep: Archaeological, Anthropological, and Phenomenological Explorations of Bardsey Island and the North Wales Pilgrim's Way |
| Cristina Stockton Juarez, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: Pots, People, and Pilgrimage: Elemental Analysis of Surface Pigments on Nasca Polychrome Vessels from the Nasca Drainage |
| Madeline Topor, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: Space, Place, and Memory: Social and Symbolic Meaning in the Central Court at Knossos. |
| Kaja Tally-Schumacher, Ph.D. | 2020 | History of Art | Dissertation: Cultivating Empire in Ancient Roman Gardens: Unearthing the Tangled Relationship between Plants and their Gardeners |
| Danielle Vander Horst, M.A. | 2019 | Archaeology | Thesis: Seeing Faces: Material Diversification and Identity Performance Through Romano-British Face Pots |
| Juliana Van Roggen, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Urban Planning and Cultural Identity in Pompeii: from the Altstadt to Vitruvius |
| Alexandra Walton, M.A. | 2021 | Archaeology | Thesis: “Reconciling Tradition and Innovation: An Analysis of Indigenous Iron and Lead Use, Modification, and Remanufacture at the Onöndowa'ga (Seneca) White Springs Site, circa 1688-1715.” |
| Jason Weimar, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Wood and Stone: How the South Arabian Construction Texts Illuminate Building Accounts in the Hebrew Bible |
| MyKayla Williamson, M.A. | 2024 | Archaeology | Thesis: And the Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: A Look at Clandestine Communities of Liberation via Fort Mose and the St. James AME Zion Church in Ithaca, New York. |
| Jordana Wolf, M.A. | 2012 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Bronze Age Gardens of the Aegean in the Context of Contemporary Gardens in the Near East and Egypt |
| Tyler Wolford, Ph.D. | 2024 | Medieval Studies | Dissertation: Mountain Resilience: Settlement on Mounts Latros and Mykale in Middle Byzantine Western Asia Minor |
| Erin Wright, M.A. | 2017 | Archaeology | Thesis: Cultural Resiliency at Pompeii: The Spatial Relationship Between Painted Fountains and Private Water Access, 62-79 CE |
| Jenna Martin, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: The Efficacy of Roman Silver in Iron Age Scotland: An Object Trajectory for Spiral Rings |
| Max Meyer, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Look and (Don’t) Touch: Non-Normative Spatial Experiences at Villa A, Oplontis |
| Christine Muron, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: An Invested Frontier: Reconsidering the Roles of Nicaean and Seljuk Building Programs in the Thirteenth Century |
| Nicholas Perez, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: As Far as the Grass Still Grows”: A Least Cost Analysis of Overland Routes and Canoe Travel in Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih Territory, 1650-1789 |
| Emily Sharp, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Rethinking the “Mummies with Individually Wrapped Limbs”: Gender-Expansive Identities in the Roman Period of Egypt |
| Michael Stewart-Bernard, M.A. | 2023 | Archaeology | Thesis: Heterarchy and Emergent Complexity in the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant: A Mortuary Perspective |
| Quinn Stickley, M.A. | 2022 | Archaeology | Thesis: Gendered Representation and Reception at Deir el-Bahri |
| Henry Ziegler, M.A. | 2022 | Archaeology | Thesis: Echoes of Insidious Geographies: The Life History and Object Biography of a Caved Elephant Tusk from the Medieval Mediterranean to the Metropolitan Museum, ca. 750 CE to Present |