Awards and Achievements
Faculty Awards and Achievements Heading link
Our faculty are well-established scholars and researchers who have been recognized for their talents by a number of organizations.
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Faculty Awards
- 2020, University of Illinois at Chicago, Award for Creative Activity, Mario LaMothe
- 2019, Wenner-Gren Post-PhD Research Grant for Anthropological Research, Principal Investigator: Molly Doane
- 2019-2021, National Science Foundation Senior Research Award, Principal Investigator: Tarini Bedi
- 2019, UIC’s Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and Humanities Grant, Co-Investigator: Brian Bauer
- 2016-2019, Arts & Humanities Research Council (UK), International Co-Investigator; Mark Liechty
- 2017, Humanities Without Walls Collaborative Research Grant; Molly Doane
- 2016-2017, Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship: Brian Bauer
- 2016-2018, Wenner-Gren Foundation Post-Ph.D. Research Grant; Tarini Bedi
- 2016-2017, Wenner-Gren Foundation Post-Ph.D. Research Grant: Gayatri Reddy
- 2016, Center for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe), Visiting Fellowship: Tarini Bedi
- 2014-2016, US Dept. of State and CIES, Fulbright Specialist; Mark Liechty
- 2016, American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Senior Research Fellowship: Gayatri Reddy
- 2016-2019, National Science Foundation Grant: Mitch Hendrickson
- 2015, National Endowment for the Humanities: John Monaghan
- 2011-2016, National Endowment for the Humanities: Sloan Williams
- 2014, Robert Ho Foundation/ACLS Collaborative Research Fellowship in Buddhist Studies: Mitch Hendrickson
- 2014, National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration Grant: Brian Bauer
- 2010-2015, Henry Luce Foundation Research and Training Grant, Laura Junker with John Monaghan and Anne Underhill
- 2010-2011, Faculty Fellow, UIC Great Cities Institute; Mark Liechty
Student Awards and Achievements Heading link
We are pleased to recognize our graduate and undergraduate students who are successfully establishing themselves as scholars through the achievement of grants, awards, and other achievements.
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External Awards
2020-2021
Wenpeng Xu
China Scholarship Council Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students AbroadAikaterini Psimogiannou
Gerondelis Foundation Fellowship AwardKrystal Britt
Alan Burgan Research Endowment
Geochemical Analysis of Mogollon Brown Ware CeramicsAlize Arıcan
The Institute of Turkish Studies dissertation writing grant for AY 2020-2021 for her project titled “Figuring It Out: Inhabiting Urban Transformation in Tarlabaşı, Istanbul”.Shilpa Menon
Duberman-Zal Fellowship for “There are no Hijras here: Transgender rights and Subnational identity in Kerala, South IndiaNirupama Jayaraman
NSF-REG Grant from the NSF Cultural Anthropology Program for (Re)-imagining Automobility: Understanding the relationship between consumption of transport infrastructure and class mobilitiesDoyeon Shin
NSF-REG Grant from the NSF Cultural Anthropology Program for “Technology and Labor: Understanding Shifts in Work and Contracts in Seoul, South Korea”Larissa Mukundwa
Fulbright Award for Study in RwandaWilliam Ridge
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for “Fundamental Processes of Social Change”Beth Grávalos
Dumbarton Oaks Junior Fellowship in Pre-columbian Studies
“Tracking Recuay Traditions: Prehispanic Craft Learning and Social Networks in Highland Ancash, Peru.”Aditi Agarwal
Junior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies (2020-2021) for her project titled: “Pragmatics, Planning, and Politics: Examining Train Vendors’ Gendered Networks and Marginalization in Mumbai’s Economic Futures.”2019-2020
Ben Schaefer
Short-Term Predoctoral Residency from Dumbarton Oakes Pre-Columbian Studies ProgramAlize Arıcan
Best Student Paper Prize from the Middle East Section of the American (MESA) Anthropological Association for her paper: “Behind the Scaffolding: Manipulations of Time, Power, and Delays in Tarlabaşı, Istanbul.”2018-2019
Wenpeng Xu
National Science Foundation Grant for research on the organization of large-scale porcelain dragon kiln production in southern ChinaAikaterini Psimogiannou
Andrew Sherratt Grant for research in GreeceWilliam Ridge
Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research “Investigating Large-scale Settlement Decline during the Bodrogkeresztúr Period (4000-3500 BCE) in Eastern Hungary”Susan Monge
Smithsonian Internship Appointment
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), PanamaEnvironmental Archaeology in the Neotropics
Beth Grávalos
Field Museum, Chicago
Women in Science Graduate FellowshipAshley Vance
Society for American Archaeology
Historically Underrepresented Groups Scholarship (HUGS) for Archaeological Training
For attending the Universidad San Francisco de Quito where she will be working on a project focusing on Spondylus Procurement/Collection and Oxygen Stable-Isotope AnalysesAldo Foe
Council for American Overseas Research Center (CAORC)
Predoctoral Research Fellowship
“Nagara and the Masjid: Mosque Construction and the Political Economy of Islamization in Early Modern Period Indonesia”David Reid
National Science Foundation, Dissertation Improvement Grant. “Roads, Caravans, and Waystations: The Role of Infrastructure in Wari State Expansion (Arequipa, Peru)”.Katy Dye
Wenner-Gren Foundation, Dissertation Fieldwork Grant.Undergraduate Awards
Tabitha Birtell
The Explorer’s Club Grant to support her research “Assessing Imperial Labor Practices through Paleopathology in Moquegua, Peru”2017-2018
Beth Gravalos
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award in Archaeology: “Consumption of Food and Social Distinction”David Reid
Lewis and Clark Award for “Exploration of Desert Roads and Prehistoric Waystations: Mapping Wari State Expansion in the Majes-Ocõna Valleys, Southern Peru (AD 600-1000)”Beth Gravalos
Wenner – Gren for “Social Distinction and Communities of Consumption at Jecosh, Peru (ca.100-1000CE)”Jozi Chaet
American Center of Oriental Research and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (ACOR-CAORC) for “‘Homeland’s Daughter, Everyone’s Sister’: Women’s Organizations, Political Participation, and the Jordanian State”Jozi Chaet
Fulbright Award for “‘Homeland’s Daughter, Everyone’s Sister’: Women’s Organizations in Jordan”Krystal Britt
Grant from the Rust Family Foundation to support her project “Practice and Pottery: Migration, Interaction, and Community Formation in the Middle Little Colorado River Valley, Northern Arizona (1125-1275 C.E.)”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Alexander Onassis Foundation Scholarship for living costs/research in Greece and UIC tuition feesMichael Canilao
Satellite Imagery Grant for Network 2A in Northwestern Luzon: the Gasweling Gold District from DigitalGlobe Foundation, Longmont, Colorado, USAMichael Canilao
Satellite Imagery Grant for Network 2B in Northwestern Luzon: the Lepanto Gold District from DigitalGlobe Foundation, Longmont, Colorado, USAMichael Canilao
DigitalGlobe Foundation and Hexagon Geospatial Content Partnership. “Short- term Project Software License”Jozi Chaet
Critical Language Scholarship by the US Department of State for intensive study of Arabic in Amman, Jordan2016-17
Krystal Britt
Arizona Archaeological and Historical Research Society Research Grant
Interaction and Fluid Group Identity in the Middle Little Colorado River Valley, A.D. 1125-1275Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Archaeological Institute of America Harriett and Leon Pomerance Fellowship for “Mortuary Practices, Ceremonial Feasting and Social Transformation at the Dawn of the Bronze Age on the Greek mainland”John Hicks
Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Award for “Volcanism and Vulnerability in the Early Colonial Period Agricultural Landscape of the South-Central Andes”Aikaterini Psoma
Norwegian Institute at Athens Research Grant for “Analysis of the Lithic Industry of the NASK Field Survey in Southern Euboea, Greece”Beth Grávalos
Rust Family Foundation’s Archaeology Grant Program for “States of Consumption: Cultural Resilience and Politico-Economic Relations at Jecosh, Callejón de Huaylas, Peru (1-1000 CE)”Beth Grávalos
Collections Study Grant, American Museum of Natural History to study “Wendell C. Bennett 1938 Callejon de Huaylas, Peru collection”Rachael Penfil
National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant for “After Collapse: An Investigation of Sociopolitical Transformation and Site Growth at Monte Sierpe, Peru”Jacob Gold
Center for Khmer Studies Senior Fellowship for “E Pluribus Angkor: Resource-Driven Cultural Exchange on the Forest Frontier”Wengpeng Xu
Henry Luce/ACLS Predissertation-Summer Travel Grant for “Porcelains for the World: Landscape, Technology, and Market Strategies of Ceramic Production in Quanzhou, China (10th – 17th Centuries)”2015-16
David Reid
Wenner-Gren Dissertation Field Work Award for “Waystations, and Llama Caravans: The Political-Economy of Wari State Expansion in Southern Peru”Aldo Foe
Fulbright Award for “Trade and the Islamization of the Indonesian Archipelago, 7th – 15th century.”Ben Linder
Fellowship Council of American Overseas Research Centers Fellowship, “Mobility and the Global Production of Space Between Hong Kong and Kathmandu.”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship for work in Diros Project, Mani, GreeceBeth Grávalos
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship in Moquegua, PeruMichael Canilao
Satellite Imagery Grant, Digital Globe Foundation. Longmont, Colorado USA2014-15
Jacob Gold
Center for Khmer Studies Summer Fellowship for intensive language training in Phnom PenhColin Le Jeune
Wenner-Gren Dissertation Field Work Grant, “Interaction, Change, and Ceramic Variation along Coastal Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, AD 100-1500”Benjamin Linder
Fulbright Student Award, “Mobility, Cosmopolitanism, and the Production of Hyperspace in Kathmandu, Nepal”Dylan Lott
Wenner-Gren Historical Archives Program Grant, “Preserving Parintintin Culture: Repatriation and Preservation of Materials from the Collection of Dr. Waud H. Kracke”Dylan Lott
Francisco J. Varela Research Award from the Mind and Life Institute, “An Ethnographic Analysis of the Integration of Contemplatives in Neuroimaging Laboratorie.”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
American School of Classical Studies at Athens Harry Bikakis Fellowship, “The Neolithic Period at Mitrou, east Lokris, central Greece”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Fulbright Foundation Scholarship for study at USA/UICAikaterini Psimogiannou
Alexander Onassis Foundation Scholarship for study/tuition fees at UICDavid Reid
Sigma Xi Award, “The Callanga Site: Dating a Lost Prehistoric City in the Southern Andes”Wenpeng Xu
Field Museum Boone Scholars Internship2013-14
Emily Baca Marroquin
Field Museum Women-in-Science Fellowship for 2014-2015Emily Baca Marroquin
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, “Provincial Economy in Chinchaysuyo: Imperial and Local Ceramic Distribution and Consumption, Asia Valley, Central-Coast, Peru”Rebekah Ciribassi
Fulbright-Hays fellowship to study Swahili in Tanzania in the summer of 2014Rebekah Ciribassi
National Geographic Young Explorers grant, “The Waganga and the Hematologist: The interface between biomedicine and local healing for sickle cell in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania”Molly McGown
Best 2013 Graduate Student Paper, AIDS and Anthropology Research Group of the American Anthropological Association, “Syphilis, Medical Authority and Trouble with Translations in Central Uganda”Laura Nussbaum-Barberena
Advanced Graduate Workshop on Poverty, Development and Globalization, Bangalore, India. Organized by the Institute for Policy Dialogue, Colombia University; Institute for New Economic Thinking; and Azim Premji UniversityErin Rice
Women’s Philanthropic Educational Organization fellowship to support dissertation writing, “The Analysis of Obsidian in the South-Central Levant: Long-Distance Exchange and Socio-Political Organization”Rebecca Seifried
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “Settlements on the Edge of Empire: Investigating the Effects of State Expansion in Rural Greece (AD 1204-1830)”Rebecca Seifried
Archaeo Landscapes Europe grant to conduct research at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies – Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas in Rethymno, CreteDoug Smit
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “Markets, Mining And Commercialization In The Colonial Andes”Doug Smit
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, “Mining, Markets, and Commercialization: The Archaeology of Indigenous Labor in Colonial Peru”Doug Smit
Lewis and Clark Award, “The Costs of Colonialism: Markets, Mining, and Labor in the Colonial Andes”John Villecco
Field Museum Council on Africa grant to conduct ethnographic research in Lamu, Kenya in the summer of 20142012-13
Rebekah Ciribassi
FLAS (Foreign-Language Area Studies) Fellowships for Swahili language immersion in Mombasa, Kenya, including tuition, housing, and related fees for the 2-month program.Sarah Shepherd-Manandhar
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support three years of graduate training and her research in NepalJames Meierhoff
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant for research on a historic village at Tikal, GuatemalaMatthew Piscitelli
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “Ritual is Power: Small-Scale Late Archaic Ceremonial Architecture in the Norte Chico”Danielle Riebe
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “Trade and Social Boundaries During the Late Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain”Danielle Riebe
Fulbright U.S. Student award for 2013-2014 to support her dissertation research in HungaryDanielle Riebe
Field Museum Women-in-Science Fellowship for 2013-2014Neslihan Sen
Koc University Research Award on Gender Studies for one year of writing and research supportJohn Villecco
FLAS (Foreign-Language Area Studies) Fellowships for Swahili language immersion in Mombasa, Kenya, including tuition, housing, and related fees for the 2-month program2011-12
Erin Antalis
Xi Grant, “Healthcare Access and Unauthorized Status: Urban Refugees in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania”Heather Christie
Fulbright Fellowship for 2012-2013Heather Christie
Four-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support her graduate studies at UICStephen P. Davis
2011 Dissertation Improvement Award for Social Entrepreneurship and Engaged Urban ScholarshipDr. Mark Golitko
National Science Foundation senior archaeology research grant, “Archaeological and Environmental Investigations along the mid-Holocene shoreline near Aitape, northern Papua New Guinea”Ruth Gomberg-Munoz
Honorable Mention from the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA) for her book (based on her UIC dissertation), presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological AssociationColin T. LeJeune
Field Museum Council on Africa Grant, “Archaeological Investigation of Swahili Coast Ethnic Development”Colin T. LeJeune
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship to conduct research with Dr. Chap Kusimba in Lamu, Kenya.Laura Nussbaum-Barberena
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “Everyday Politics of Dispossession in South-South Migration: A Social Movement of Nicaraguan Women Migrants and Sending Households”Matthew Piscitelli
National Geographic Society Young Explorers Grant, “The Mito Architectural Tradition on the North Central Coast of Peru during the Late Archaic (3,000-1,800 B.C.)”Matthew Piscitelli
The Curtiss T. & Mary G. Brennan Foundation archaeological field research grant, “Ritual is Power: Investigating Late Archaic Temple Structures on the North Central Coast of Peru”Nicola Sharratt
Postdoctoral Fellowship in Anthropology and Textiles: Bard Graduate Center and the American Museum of Natural HistoryNicola Sharratt
National Geographic Society, Committee for Research and Exploration, “Living through Collapse: Household Archaeology of Tiwanaku State Breakdown”Nicola Sharratt
Brennan Foundation grant, “Living through Collapse: Household Archaeology of the Breakdown of the Tiwanaku State”Cecilia Smith
Fulbright Fellowship for 2012-2013 to work in SE Asia2010-11
Emily Baca Marroquin
PEO International Scholarship for 2011-2012Kara Bantz
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship to conduct research with Gary Feinman in OaxacaJohn Beaver
Aspen Institute FellowshipChris Davis
Fulbright Fellowship to support his research in BrazilSandy de Leon
Fulbright Fellowship to support her graduate studies at UIC.Jessica Galea(undergraduate)
Fulbright Award to attend the University of Bristol graduate program to study cribra orbitalia using a microCT scanner, under the direction of Dr. Kate Robson-BrownJohn Hicks
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship to conduct research with Ryan Williams in southern PeruJim Meierhoff
Explorers Club grant, “The Historical Settlement at Naranjo, Guatamala”John Michels
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, “The Gentrification of Space in the Almaguin Highlands”John Michels
Government of Canada Doctoral Student Research Award, “Rural Development in the ‘Post-Productive’ Countryside in the Almaguin Highlands”Rebecca Seifried
Field Museum Anthropology Alliance Summer Fieldwork Internship to conduct research with Bill Parkinson on the Mani Peninsula, GreeceNeslihan Sen
AAUW International FellowshipNeslihan Sen
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, “Vaginismus: Embodiment of Modernity and Negotiations with Biomedical Authority in Turkey”Doug Smit
National Geographic Society Young Explorers Grant, “Investigation into Unknown Building Clusters at Espiritu Pampa”2009-10
Gabriel Cantarutti
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork GrantSofia Chalcatana
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantAlex Markovic
International Research Exchange Fellowship, “Musical Performance and the Construction of Romani Ethnic Identity in southeastern Serbia”Daniel Schneider
Fulbright Fellowship to support his research in IndiaNicola Sharratt
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantLarissa Smith
Luce-ACLA Fellowship2008-09
Nam Kim
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantMatthew Schauer
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, “Warfare on the Inca Frontier: Fortification, Imperialism, and Interaction on the Inca Frontier in Northern Ecuador”2007-08
Emily Baca Marroquin
Fulbright Fellowship (UIC)Ruth Gomberg
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantNam Kim
Dales Foundation Research GrantJohn Michels
National Science Foundation Summer Research AwardWill Pestle
Field Museum Lester Armour FellowshipNicola Sharratt
Fulbright Fellowship (Peru)2006-07
Ken Batai
Sigma Xi Research AwardDebra Green
Luce-ACLS FellowshipNam Kim
Luce-ACLS FellowshipNam Kim
Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship (Vietnam)Lisa Niziolek
Luce-ACLS FellowshipNicola Sharratt
Field Museum Women in Science Fellowship2005-06
Jeffrey Buechler
Sigma Xi Research AwardMark Golitko
Field Museum Lester Armour FellowshipMark Golitko
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork GrantLisa Niziolek
Field Museum Lester Armour FellowshipAndrew Wyatt
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant2004-05
Tarini Bedi
American Institute for Indian Studies Graduate FellowshipKathleen Forgey
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant2003-04
Karen Crane
Forman Prize of the American Anthropological AssociationDebra Green
Fulbright Fellowship (Philippines)Debra Green
Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship (Philippines)Edward Maher
NEH Post-Doctoral FellowshipDavid Wright
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantAndrew Wyatt
Foundation for Mesoamerican Studies Research Grant2002-03
Laura Waterbury
Fulbright Fellowship (Mexico)Kara Barbrowski
Fulbright Fellowship (Kenya)2001-02
Edward Maher
NEH-Albright Institute FellowshipAndrew Wyatt
Sigma Xi Research Award -
UIC Supported Awards, Achievements, and Grants
2020-2021
Shilpa Menon
Rue Bucher Award from the Department of Sociology for “There are no Hijras here: Transgender Rights and Subnational Identity in Kerala, south India”Kevin Suemnicht
Award for Graduate ResearchWilliam Ridge
Award for Graduate ResearchRachael Penfil
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for “A Geochemical Statistical Analysis of Ceramics and Stone from Across the Andes”Lakshita Malik
Provost’s Graduate Research Award “Gender and class based urban political participation in India”Themal Ellawala
Public Service Graduate Internship Award in the Global Asian Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago for assisting in the management of public engagement, developing digital tools for disseminating research and supporting their response to the anti-Asian prejudice related to the COVID-19 pandemic.Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for “Wealth, Power, and Hierarchy in the Prehistoric Balkans”Benjamin Schaefer
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for Field Museum Repatriation ProjectKrystal Britt
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for “Geochemical and typological analysis of ceramic vessels from the Java Sea Shipwreck, Field Museum”Shilpa Menon
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for “There are no Hijras here: Transgender Rights and Subnational Identity in Kerala, south India”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Provost’s Graduate Internship Award for the preparation of the Field Museum Exhibition: “Wealth, Power, and Hierarchy in the Prehistoric Balkans”Alize Arıcan
Dean Scholar Fellow2019-2020
Gabrielle Powell
Grace Holt Memorial Award, Department of African-American Studies for “Amplifying African American Assets through CommUnity CollaborAction Research”Aikaterini Psimogiannou
Award for Graduate Research, “Measuring Time and Culture Change from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age on the Greek mainland (4th mill. BCE)”Shilpa Menon
Award for Graduate Research, “Being Named: The Transgender Rights Movement in Kerala, South India.”Themal Ellawala
Provost’s Graduate Research Award, “The sexual politics of citizenship: Queer Sri Lankan Muslims and national belonging.”Aikaterini Psoma
Provost’s Graduate Research Award, “Social change in Prehistoric Greece: Exchange networks, Craft Production, and Interacting communities in Southern Aegean (end-5th – 4th Millennia BC).”2018-2019
Graduate Awards
Ana Soares
Institute for the Humanities, Resident Graduate ScholarJozi Chaet
Alice J. Dan Award for Research on Women and Gender to support her dissertation research project “Homeland’s daughter, Everyone’s sister: Women’s Organizations in Jordan.”Ana Soares
President’s Research in Diversity Travel AwardBen Schaefer
President’s Research in Diversity Travel AwardKendall B. Hills
Graduate Research Award
“Intermediate Elite Power and Temple Production in the Provinces of the Angkorian Khmer Empire (9th to 15th c. CE)”Aditi Aggarwal
Graduate Research Award
“Exploring the centrality of gendered labor to capital circulation in Mumbai.”Wenpeng Xu
Graduate Research Award
“Production Networks in the Song-Yuan Porcelain Industry at Dehua, China.”Beth Grávalos
Provost’s Internship AwardAldo W. Foe
Provost Graduate Research Award for “Nagara and the Masjid: Mosque Construction and the Political Economy of Islamization in Early Modern Period Indonesia”.Zoey Martin-Lockhart
Provost Graduate Research Award for “The social networks making physical lives: formation of physical community through online connections in lgbtqia India”.Rachael Penfil
Provost Graduate Research Award for “Architectural Perspectives on Identity and Difference at Mauka Llacta de Nuñoa, Puno, Peru”.Dipti Sherchan
Provost Graduate Research Award for “Politics of cultural institutions: The making of Nepali arts, artists, and nationalism”.Ashley E. Vance
Provost Graduate Research Award for “The Sacred Shell Speaks: Sclerochronology-Building in Spondylus crassisquama (princeps)”.Undergraduate Awards
Jasmine Reed
LASURI Fellowship to work with Dr. Molly Doane on her Garden ProjectOlivia Lee
LASURI Fellowship to work with Dr. Molly Doane on her Garden ProjectJordan Alcantar
LASURI Fellowship to work with Dr. Gayatri Reddy on a queer disability projectSummer Shaw and Natalie Rojas
Phi Beta Kappa Nominees2017-18
Graduate Awards
Alexander Markovic
UIC Outstanding Dissertation Award for “Gypsy Fingers are Unique! Identity and Politics and Romani Musical Performance in Vranje, Serbia.Corey Bowen
Provost Graduate Internship AwardAshley Vance
Provost Graduate Internship AwardAlize Arican
Gender and Women’s Studies Completion AwardAlize Arican
Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy Dissertation Research GrantDipti Sherchan
Provost Award for “Emergence of “Art” in Nepal: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Institutional Development of Arts in Nepal”Pamela Whyms
Provost Award for “Disruptions of the Oral Microbiome: Identifying the Factors Influencing Health and Bacterial Diversity in Rural and Urban Areas of Western Kenya”Zachary Blair
Honorable Mention for his photograph “Affect and Solidarity Constructed” in the Image of Research Results competitionAshley Vance
Star FellowshipCaitlyn Dye
Chancellor’s Award for The Country and the Thirsty City: Climate Change and Political Practice on Cochabamba’s Urban FringeKimberly Garza
Chancellor’s Award for Beyond the Bully: Peer Interactions and Stress in Early Adolescent GirlsKendall Hills
Chancellor’s Award for State integration, intermediate elite power, and localized agency: An investigation of temple variation in the provincial territories of the Angkorian Khmer imperial landscape (9th – 15th c. CE)Shilpa Menon
Chancellor’s Award for Being Named: Queerness and the Transgender Welfare Policy in KeralaAikaterini Psimogiannou
Chancellor’s Award for Investigating Regional and Temporal Variation in Social Evolutionary Processes at the End of the Neolithic and the Beginning of the Bronze Age in southern Greece (4th-3rd mil. BCE)William Ridge
Chancellor’s Award for Demographic Nucleation and Social Change in Prehistoric HungaryKevin Suemnicht
Chancellor’s Award for Assembling Ecology: Environmental Social Movements and the Materiality of the AnthropoceneJosephine Chaet
Provost Award for “Women’s Organizations in Jordan”Kimberly Garza
Provost Award for “Beyond the Bully: Social Interactions and Stress in Adolescent Girls”Kimberly Garza
Rue Bucher Memorial Award for Qualitative Studies in Social Process by the Department of Sociology for “Beyond the Bully: Social Interactions and Stress in Adolescent Girls”2016-17
Alize Arican
Alice Dan Dissertation Research Award for research on gender and women’s issuesSandy De Leon
Dean’s Scholarship, “Mortuary Practices, Ceramics, and Community Identities in the Philippines During the Metal Age, ca. 500 BC – AD 1000.”Aditi Aggarwal
Chancellor’s Award, “Understanding gendered place making and relational networks of women vendors on Mumbai suburban trains.”Aditi Aggarwal
University Fellowship for four years of graduate studies at UICAlize Arican
Chancellor’s Award, “Urban Transformation in Tarlabasi: Feminist Challenges to Discourses of Securitization.”Emily Baca Marroquin Ancira
Provost’s AwardKrystal Britt
Chancellor’s Award, “Migration, Interaction, and Community Formation in the Middle Little Colorado River Valley, Northern Arizona.”Josephine Chaet
Chancellor’s Award, “The Jordanian Women’s Union and Honor-Based Violence.”Caitlyn Dye
Provost’s AwardElizabeth Obregon
Chancellor’s Award, “Cuban Identity: On the Island in the Diaspora.”Ana Luiza Soares
Chancellor’s Award, “Indigenous people of Manaus (1870-1930): the emergence of the invisible.”Michael Canilao
Robert Corley Memorial ScholarshipPamela Whyms
Chancellor’s Award, “Analyzing Relationships Between Diet, the Oral Microbiome, and Obesity in Western Kenya.”Wenpeng Xu
Chancellor’s Award, “Porcelains for the World: Understanding the Landscape, Techniques, and Market Strategies of Porcelain Production in Quanzhou, China (10th to 17th centuries).”Undergraduate Awards
Haley LeRand
LASURI Fellow2015-16
Alize Arican
Provost Award, “Urban Transformation in Tarlabasi: Feminist Challenges to Discourses of Securitization.”Emily Baca Marroquin
Dean’s Scholar Award 2016-2017, “Provincial Economy in the Chinchaysuyo: Imperial and Local Ceramic Distribution and Consumption, Asia Valley, Central Coast, Peru.”Michael Canilao
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Upland Gold Mining and Coastal Maritime Markets in the 10th-16th Centuries Philippines: Archaeological, Environmental and Geographical Approaches.”Alexandra De Leon
Provost Award, “Community Identities and Mortuary Styles in the Philippine Metal Age, 500 BC-500 AD.”Beth Gravalos
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Wari Imperialism and Indigenous Knowledge: Political Economy and Craft Production in Prehispanic Peru.”Benjamin Linder
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Mobility, Cosmopolitanism, and the Global Production of Space between London and Kathmandu.”David Reid
Provost Award, “Desert Roads and Waystations: Prehistoric State Expansion in Southern Peru during the Middle Horizon (A.D. 600-1000).”2014-15
Alize Arican
University Fellowship to support four years of graduate studies at UICMichael Canilao
Chicago Consular Corps Scholarship, organized by the Office of International Affairs (OIA-UIC), to expand his current research in the Southeast Asian regionRebecca Deeb
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Models of Exchange: Chemical Sourcing of Ceramics from a Rural Postclassic Maya Community”Caleb Kestle
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Maya Animal Resource Use in Transition: Colonialism and Novel Strategies of Survival in Chiapas, Mexico”David Reid
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Geoarchaeological Investigations of the Ocoña Valley, Southern Peru: Prehistoric State Expansion during the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000)”Neslihan Sen
Dean’s Scholar Award for 2015-2016, Vaginismus: The Embodiment of Modernity and Negotiations with Biomedical Authority in Turkey.Sarah Shepherd-Manandhar
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Fashioning Futures, Designing Dreams: Gender, Class, and Dress in Kathmandu, Nepal”Douglas Smit
Dean’s Scholar Award for 2015-2016,
“Mercury, Mitayos and the Making of Andean Markets: Indigenous Labor in Colonial Huancavelica.”2013-14
Michael Canilao
Summer internship in Community Outreach at The Field Museum with the museum’s “co-curation” initiative, in which community members work with the museum curators to develop programs, activities, and exhibitsSandy De Leon
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Mortuary Variation and Social Interaction in the Philippine Metal Age, 500 BC- AD 500”Jacob Gold
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Masters of a Fading Forest: Trade, Agency, and Traditional Medicine Among the Kuay People of Cambodia”Madeleine Halac-Higashimori
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Diet and Socioeconomic Status at Xcambo, Yucatan”Ellen Kang
Provost’s Award, “Production-based Alternative Food Movements: Community Gardening and the Community Garden Market in Chicago”Molly McGown
Alice J. Dan Dissertation Award for research on gender and women’s issuesMolly McGown
Provost Award, “What is Care?: Policy, Procedures, and the Moral Economy of Caregiving and Among Midwives and Pregnant Women in Malawi”Molly McGown
Rue Bucher Memorial Award to begin her research in MalawiRebecca Seifried
Dean’s Scholar Award for 2014-2015Rebecca Seifried
Provost’s Award, “Weaving Tales With History: Contextualizing Archaeological Field Data with Archival Records”Douglas Smit
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Daily Life at the “Mine of Death”: Indigenous Labor in Colonial Peru”Douglas Smit
Provost’s Award, “Daily Life at the “Mine of Death”: Archival Research at the Hunacavelica Mercury Mine in Colonial Peru”2012-13
Erin Antalis
Provost’s Award, “Breastfeeding and the Practice of Mothering Among Refugees”Emily Baca Marroquin
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Craft Production in the Inca Empire: Examining Ceramic Production to Infer Economic Interactions in Non-State Marginal Societies in the Asia Valley, Peru”Rebekah Ciribassi
University Fellowship to support four years of graduate studies at UICCaitlyn Dye
University Fellowship to support four years of graduate studies at UICJohn Hicks
Provost’s Award, “Archival Research on Colonial-Period Settlement and Demography in the Tarata Valley, Peru”Maggie Kaufmann
2013 Global Health Poster Award (UIC Public Heath), “Migration, Masculinity and HIV: Risk among Male Tajik Migrants in Moscow, Russia”Maggie Kaufmann
Douglas Passaro Global Horizons Scholarship, School of Public Health, to conduct research on migration and HIV in Moscow, Russia in the summer of 2012Aubry Kyle
University Fellowship to support four years of graduate studies at UICJames Meierhoff
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Exploitation of the Last Maya Frontier: Exploring the Historic Village at Tikal, Guatemala”Laura Nussbaum-Barberena
Dean’s Scholar Award for 2013-2014, “Repossessing Democracy: Nicaraguan Migrants, Gender and the Politics of Dispossession”Danielle Riebe
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Signatures of Prehistoric Interaction: The Chemical Analysis of River Clays and Ceramics from Late Neolithic Sites in Hungary and Romania”Cecilia Smith
Provost’s Award, “An Archaeological Study of Land Use and Social Organization on Negros Oriental, Philippines”Larissa Smith
Provost’s Award, “Tropical Foragers in Negros Oriental, Philippines: Constructing the Long-Term History of Land Use and Interaction with Lowland Populations”John Villecco
University Fellowship to support four years of graduate studies at UIC2011-12
Rory Dennison
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Chemical Sourcing of Chinese Porcelain”Alexander Markovic
Eastern Europe Fellowship for 2012-2013Molly McGown
2011 Bonnie C. Minsky Memorial Scholarship, School of Public Health, to conduct research on maternal/child health and nutritionLaura Nussbaum-Barberena
Provost’s Award, “Women Migrants and Rights: Transnational Organizing Between Costa Rica and Nicaragua Behavioral and Social Sciences Anthropology”Damian Peoples
Provost’s Award, “Masculinity amid Marginality: Gender Identity in the French Banlieues”Matthew Piscitelli
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Use Modern Tools to Reconstruct Ancient Ritual in Peru”Luisa Rollins
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Development through Conservation: The Politics of the Environment”Rebecca Seifried
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Understanding State-Border Interaction Using Medieval and Modern Agricultural Terraces in Greece”2010-11
Dylan Lott
Provost’s Award, “Refuge Mental Health Assessment Among Practioners of Traditional Tibetan Medicine”Alexander Markovic
Dean’s Scholar Award for 2011-2012Jim Meierhoff
Provost’s Award, “Archeological Investigations of the Historic Tikal Village”Matthew Piscitelli
Provost’s Award, “Predictive Mapping of Late Archaic Domestic Structures in the Norte Chico, Peru”Erin Rice
Chancellor’s Graduate Research Fellowship, “Understanding Social Organization through Long Distance Exchange items During the Transition to Agriculture in the South-Central Levant”Larissa Smith
Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship -
Departmental Awards
The Department of Anthropology is pleased to recognize the following awards that have been generously established by alumni and faculty to support our undergraduate and graduate students.
The Joshua Terry Awards
Joshua Terry was an undergraduate anthropology major at UIC. Two awards have been established by Elisabeth English to honor Joshua’s memory and his passion for education and anthropology. The Joshua J. Terry Memorial Scholarship in Anthropology supports excellence in undergraduate research. The Joshua J. Terry Graduate Award is given to an outstanding second year graduate student.
2020-2021
Graduate Students
Benjamin J. Schaefer
Rosa Varillas Palacios2019-2020
Graduate Students
Themal Ellawala
Susan MongeUndergraduate Student
Andrew Kracinski2018-2019
Graduate Students
Dipti Sherchan
Zoey Martin LockhartUndergraduate Students
Tabitha Birthell
Toni Degraff2017-2018
Aditi Aggarwal, graduate student
Jaime Saldana, undergraduate student2016-2017
Marie Elizabeth Grávalos, graduate student
Hanwen Zhang, undergraduate student2015-2016
Aikaterini Psimogiannou, graduate student
Mallery Lutey, undergraduate student2014-2015
Michael Armand Canilao, graduate student
Sharice Hill, undergraduate student2013-2014
Ben Linder, graduate student
Chelsea Brown, undergraduate student2012-2013
Sarah Manandhar, graduate student
John Capua, undergraduate student2011-2012
Douglas Smit, graduate student
Loran H. Recchia, undergraduate student2010-2011
Cecilia Smith, graduate student
Jessica Galea, undergraduate student2009-2010
Emily Baca Marroquin, graduate student
Chris Hernandez, undergraduate student2008-2009
John Hicks, graduate student
Amanda Letner, undergraduate studentDepartmental Awards for Graduate Students
The Charles A. Reed Award
Charles A. Reed was a founding professor of the Department of Anthropology at UIC and a pioneer in the area of zooarchaeology. The Charles A. Reed Award honors his outstanding achievements in field research. The funds from the endowed award are used to support graduate research, including travel, equipment, and other research-related costs.
2020-2021
Themal Ellawala
“The sexual politics of citizenship: Queer Sri Lankan Muslims and national belonging.”Ritu Ghosh
“Enigmas of Corporeal Justice: Surrogacy and Legality in India”2019-2020
2018-2019
Aikaterini Psimogiannou
For her archaeological research in GreeceShilpa Menon
For her ethnographic work in India2017-2018
Katerina Psoma for research in Greece
Dipti Sherchan for research in Nepal
Aditi Aggarwal for language training in Marathi (with support from the Geography Fund)
Ben Linder for research in Nepal (with support from the Geography Fund)
Krystal Britt for research in the Southwest USA (with support from the Dorner Fund)2013-2014
Lindsey Proctor for research in Kenya
Caitlyn Dye for research in Bolivia2012-2013
Rebekah Ciribassi for training in Swahili
Doug Smit for field research in Peru
Dylan Lott to attend the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute2011-2012
Maggie Kaufmann for research in Russia
Emily Baca Marroquin for research in Peru2010-2011
John Hicks for research in Peru
Damian Peoples for research in France2009-2010
Zachary Blair for research in Chicago
Dylan Lott for language training2008-2009
John Michels for work in Canada
Laura Nussbaum-Barberena for work in Costa Rica2007-2008
Matthew Piscitelli for work in Peru
Megan Klein for work in Peru
Ken Batai for laboratory work
Neslihan Sen for work in Turkey
Erin Antalis for work in Tanzania
Larissa Smith for work in the Philippines
Alexander Markovic for work in Serbia
Matt Schauer for work in Ecuador
Evin Rodkey for work in the Dominican Republic2006-2007
Nicola Sharratt for work in Peru
Deidre Guthrie for work in the Dominican RepublicAl and Judy Blitz Archeology Scholarship Fund
Jennifer Blitz earned her BA and MA in Anthropology at UIC and her PhD at the University of Wisconsin (at Madison). Dr. Blitz established the fellowship in 2012 in memory of her parents. Currently, one fellowship is given each year to an incoming, first-year archaeology graduate student in recognition of outstanding research that they completed during the summer.
2020-2021
Ritu Ghosh2019-2020
Gabrielle Powell2018-2019
Rosa Varillas Palacios2016-2017
Rachael Penfil2015-2016
Andrea Gonzales Lombardi2014-2015
Kendall Hills2012-2013
Krystal BrittRothschild Award
The Rothschild Fund
The Rothschild Award is given to a graduate student using GIS as a critical element of their research.2020-2021
Gabrielle Powell
For her project “Mapping African American Assets in Chicago’s ‘Black Metropolis’ Local Food System”Billy Ridge
For his project “Sociocultural and demographic changes in prehistoric village societies on the Great Hungarian Plain, 4500-3500 BCE”2019-2020
2018-2019
Kendall Hills
For her GIS research in CambodiaAldo Foe
For his GIS research in IndonesiaDepartmental Awards for Undergraduate Students
The Waud Kracke Summer Opportunities Award
2018-2019
Brittany Green, UndergraduateNasrin Mahani Scholarship Fund
Nasrin Mahani is a UIC Alumni. Born in pre-revolutionary Iran, Nasrin left during the Iran–Iraq War and arrived in the USA in 1984. She graduated with a BA in Anthropology in 2007 and that year a fund was established in her honor to help other women in the Anthropology Department. This award is given to an undergraduate student each year.
2019-2020
Jordan Alcantar2018-2019
Theresa Thomas2017-2018
Jackson Krause2016-2017
Jessica Santillan2015-2016
Hira Rohail2014-2015
Wajiha Zafar2013-2014
Bridget Hansen2012-2013
Samantha Weigt2011-2012
Hilary Leatham2010-2011
Maire Malone2009-2010
Ekaterina Khramtsova2008-2009
Emily Burns