Previous Riggs Hoenecke Funding Recipients

Before anything, I would like to give a massive thank you to the Anthropology Department for providing me with funding for my archaeological field school this summer. It was an honor to receive the funding, and it played a pivotal role in my ability to attend the field school without too much financial burden. I hope that I’m able to pay it forward and use the knowledge and skills that I learned there to be an exemplary student and be an undergraduate that the department can be proud of both during and after my time as an undergraduate.

The field school I was able to attend thanks in part to the anthropology department’s funding was the Wyoming Archaeological Field School run and hosted by the University of Wyoming. In this field school, we went to three separate sites in western Wyoming, each of which covered a unique temporal period in the archaeological record of the region. The first of these sites was Willow Springs, a site approximately 20 minutes south of Laramie; this site has evidence of paleoindian, late prehistoric, and historic occupation, and is believed to have been a stop on the Overland Trail. This site served as a good primer for the rest of the field school, as we were able to stay in the dorms and avoid living in the bush, which made it easier to focus on learning the fundamentals of archaeological excavation (e.g. pedestrian survey, shovel/auger test pits, dry screening, 1x1s, field curation, etc.). This effort was sullied by the wind and mosquitoes, however; on days where the wind wasn’t blowing at least 20 miles an hour, we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes who were capitalizing on the only water source in a 5 mile radius. Another rude awakening, at least for a Michigan native, was that it becomes exponentially easier to get sunburnt as you go up in elevation. I don’t think there was a single day where the UV index was below 8 there, and my nose suffered greatly from it. In other words, it was a perfect introduction to working in the field!

The second site we excavated was the La Prele mammoth site, a Clovis period mammoth kill site that’s been dated to approximately 13,000 years old and has a long history of excavation. The work here was quite a lot more precise than at Willow Springs, and the sediment all but ensured that we had to work for every last centimeter of depth. Picking the screens here was brutal; 5 gallon buckets of dirt would take upwards of an hour to pick through despite us hosing them down with enough water to irrigate an entire field of crops. I think the most important thing I learned here was how to work in and around a lot of other people. There were upwards of twenty-five people working side by side at once here, and it required a lot of coordination (and squeezing) to ensure that everyone was able to excavate and get readings from the total station without encroaching on other people’s 1x1s. Being able to hear Dr. Bob Kelly’s stories from his early days in the field made all of the hard work during the day worth it, though. Additionally, this was the final season they’re hosting at the site, and I’m honored that I was able to contribute to a site that’s as important as La Prele is before it was left for future generations.

The final site we excavated was the former city of Carbon, located in the middle of nowhere in Carbon County. Carbon was the first coal mining town in Wyoming, established in 1868 by the Union Pacific Railroad, and was abandoned before the turn of the century after the mines ran dry. Excavating here was quite a bit different from the other sites, as the amount of plainly visible artifacts you'd turn up with a single motion of the trowel dwarfs what you'd find in an entire session at La Prele. It being a historic site meant that many of the artifacts were familiar as well, which was a nice change of pace for someone who’s not very familiar with faunal remains and lithics. My favorite personal find of the field school was something I found here: a little dachshund, no bigger than my thumbnail, made of metal. I thought it was a piece of slag when I first picked it up! Carbon served as a good wrap-up to the field school, as it brought together all of the skills we learned at the previous two sites (excavation, survey, etc.) while also helping us learn what it's like to work at a truly remote site.

Overall, I'd say that my experience this summer was a resounding success. I learned a ton from some really great people, and I'm sure that the professional and personal connections I made there will last far into the future. I want to again thank the Anthropology Department for their generosity and for allowing me to participate in this opportunity. 

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all of the donors to the Riggs Hoenecke Undergraduate Experience Prize, as it is thanks to their generosity that I have been able to take this crucial first step in my journey as an anthropologist and an archaeologist.

With the funding received through the Riggs Hoenecke Prize I was able to participate in a field school led by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project, who have been conducting fieldwork in western Belize for several decades. My three weeks working in Belize this summer were spent at the site of Baking Pot, the name given both to the administrative and religious center of a Classic- and Postclassic-Period polity, as well as to the polity itself. Occupation of Baking Pot spanned centuries across most major periods of pre-contact Maya history, though the excavation I participated in was primarily concerned with the Postclassic and Late Classic periods. Myself and a team of other students and professional archaeologists from across the United States and Belize led by Dr. Julie Hoggarth excavated first the eastern span of the stairs leading to the top of a structure on the western edge of one of Baking Pot’s two primary plazas, thought to have served primarily an administrative function. Our aim in excavating the stairs was to locate their center in order that a trench may later be dug perpendicularly through the center of the staircase to expose all architectural and cultural phases at Baking Pot. After reaching and exposing the latest extent of the stairs our work turned towards the central trench itself, which we dug to expose also the latest form of the full height of the stairs.

Over the course of our excavation we uncovered thousands of artifacts and ecofacts associated with both the Postclassic and Late Classic periods of Maya history, including countless potsherds, pieces of quartz, chert, obsidian blade fragments, and freshwater shells. Another common find  was daub, chunks of hard red-orange material formed from the burning of clay used to seal and waterproof structures, the presence of which suggests that the the administrative structure we excavated, and others like it, may have been topped with organic structures not unlike the palapas that dot the modern Belizean landscape. The distribution of these materials in the stratigraphy we excavated suggest that Baking Pot, unlike most other monumental sites in the western Belize Valley, was occupied fairly late, extending well into the Postclassic when most sites had long been abandoned. Over the past several years of excavations it has become clear that Baking Pot is something of an enigma among Maya sites in Belize. I must say I am honored to have been able to contribute to our understanding of such a fascinating site, and look forward eagerly to future scholarship on new discoveries at Baking Pot.

The Lobor Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Project provided me with an introduction to archaeological fieldwork and bioarchaeology, with a combination of theoretical lectures and hands-on activities. Throughout the field school, we had multiple lectures on relevant archaeological topics. We began by learning about the history of the Lobor site and its context in the history of Croatia. We next learned about excavation techniques, including survey methods, the use of tools, and how to maintain healthy posture while working. Additionally, we had bioarchaeology lectures, where we learned about the human skeletal system and how to identify the age and sex of a skeleton.

I practiced what I learned in the classroom in the field; I used the Total station to measure the  trenches, dug, troweled, cleaned and identified bones from previous excavations, and more. From my experience at my field school, I have the foundational knowledge necessary for future archaeological fieldwork.

The Lobor field school also provided me with the opportunity to explore Zagreb, Croatia and surrounding areas. We toured the city, visited  museums, such as the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and the Neanderthal Museum in Krapina, and visited small towns near our site. I am grateful that I was able to learn about Croatian culture through first-hand experience during my field school.

 What resonated with me most from this experience was the ever present need for patience and adaptability. Archaeology can be a slow and frustrating process–you never know when or if you will find something. While we originally intended on finding a grave, we instead uncovered a segment of the medieval wall surrounding the Lobor church. Along the wall, we expected to find a considerable amount of pottery fragments; due to archaeology’s unpredictable nature, this was not the case.

 Although our findings were disappointing, this experience gave me a glimpse into a frequent reality in the field of archaeology. From this field school I can go into future excavations with the necessary understanding that archaeologists do not always find what they are looking for. I will approach future field work with the patience and flexibility I learned from working on the Lobor Archaeological Project.

 I chose to attend the Lobor Project to get a deeper look into what it means to work in archaeology and to apply the theoretical knowledge I have gained at the University of Michigan in a hands-on environment. Field work is a valuable component of a well-rounded education in the field of anthropology; having this experience will enrich my future anthropology classes at the University of Michigan. I plan to take more archaeology classes in my remaining semesters at Michigan and hope I can delve deeper into the area of burial. In the long term, this experience that University of Michigan donors funded, will prepare me to succeed in future excavations and help me pursue graduate school.

 I am thankful for the Sophomore Prize from the Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund, which helped me pursue my passion for archaeology at the Lobor Field School in Croatia!

It is with extreme gratitude that I am even able to talk about my experiences with the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project. Without the generosity of the donors of the Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund and the award that I was given, I would not have been able to afford to participate in fieldwork in Belize and take the first crucial step toward a career in anthropology.

For the three weeks I spent in Belize, I gained the invaluable experiences and skills that a field school provides as well as some unique insight from my superiors on the project. Along with roughly twenty other students, we learned the technical skills required to do archaeological fieldwork. This included surveying, setting up units and measuring, artifact identification, laboratory work at the start of every day, and the actual act of excavating. I learned how to use a lot of tools - including a plumb bob, which was something I didn’t even know existed! - from professionals who use them everyday; and then, I got to use them. I spent about eight hours a day excavating and doing laboratory work and then spent the nights attending lecture series provided by typology experts and Belize’s best archaeologists. I had several quizzes, including a unit quiz and an artifact identification quiz, and a final summary exam. The grade I received from the classroom aspects of the field school will count for my major once the credits transfer. On the weekend, we were given the option to attend tours hosted by the project’s faculty. I toured the Maya sites of Caracol, ATM Caves, Cahal Pech, and Baking Pot, and the tours were led by the people who actually discovered and excavated them themselves. This was an amazing experience. There are currently only two Belizeans in the world who hold PhDs in Belizean archaeology, and I got to meet both of them, including Dr. Jaime Awe, the former Director of the Institue of Archaeology. Learning from Dr. Awe was an extraordinary opportunity. He is the pinnacle of what an expert in archaeology looks like - we could drive past what seemed like to me to be a slightly hilly field, and he could identify with just a glance what was and wasn’t a structure - not only that, but he could guess with fairly decent accuracy what kind of structure it was. Every archaeological site that I visited, worked at, or heard about had been managed by him decades ago. He was really inspiring about what a long-term path in this field looks like. As for my personal work, I worked on Xunantunich excavating what we believed was a house complex, but turned out to be a residential structure for middle-elites of Xunantunich society. The locals of San Ignacio helped us excavate, the tourists watched us and asked questions, and we even saw a documentary crew come in and try and interview our supervisor for a special on haunted Maya ruins. I found my first artifacts on this project: an incense burner, marine shells, some obsidian flakes, and lots and lots of pottery and chert. I was able to learn how to identify not only what the artifacts were, but what they meant in a broader sense for the site. The incense burner and pottery sherds I found were indications of late-terminal deposits. The obsidian - not just blades, but flakes - implied that the residents of the complex were working with obsidian. Not only was this proof of an artisan in residence, but it also was proof of trade going on between other Central American regions, as obsidian is not native to the region. Again, I reiterate how important this opportunity was for my career and how grateful I am to the donors of the Riggs fund for making it possible. Field school is an essential step toward any career in this field, and combined with the normal expenses of college, I worried it would be out of my grasp. Using this field school as the basis for any further  research, I plan to try and narrow down my regions of interest and maybe focus more on ethnographic research in my remaining three years as an undergraduate. The Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund gave me the financial confidence for this to be possible, and I can’t wait to see what other opportunities I can utilize at the department of anthropology at the University of Michigan. 

This summer I was lucky enough to attend a 4 week archaeological field school in azardzhik, Bulgaria working at Tell Yunatsite, a late Neolithic and Chalcolithic site. The program was intense and a lot of work but it was also incredibly rewarding. We started off each day bright and early, arriving at site around 6:30 in the morning and getting right to work. As we pulled the tarps off each unit and  gathered our tools we would all watch the sun rise from the top of the tell and watch the sky change colors as we began digging. Once the sun came up it was sweltering but even so I had a great time talking to the other students and supervisors and listening to music as we worked. After enjoying  traditional Bulgarian cooking for breakfast and dinner we all went back to our hotel rooms to enjoy our much needed reprieve from the heat.

In the evenings we traveled back to the site for find processing, lectures, and workshops. We washed pottery and bones and learned how to float soil samples to pull out charcoal and burnt seeds and  later sorted through the heavy fracture remains for things like flint, fish bones, and beads. Our lectures ranged in topic from using and organizing GIS data to warfare in prehistoric and human migrations through the Balkans. In our workshops we learned how to use equipment like the dumpy level and skills like field and pottery drawing and I was exposed to some of the niches within the field of archaeology in ways that I had never been before.

I worked in a part of the site called Mikov’s Trench which had been hastily excavated in the 70s and 80s and was one of the deepest portions of the site. The unit I was working in was intimidating at first, there were multiple trenches, pits, and post holes that made it difficult to walk through and even more difficult to interpret. As the weeks progressed though, I found myself understanding the site more and more. I was starting to see the minute changes in soil color that previously looked like the same sandy clay and as my supervisor explained each feature I was starting to piece together a picture of what this tell might have been like thousands of years ago. We discovered so many incredible things while digging but one of my favorite finds was a small figurine in the style of the late Neolithic that I found while cleaning our unit. There was some debate over whether it was a bird, chicken, or pregnant woman but the overall consensus was that it was a great find either way. I also spent a lot of time excavating the several ovens in our unit and identifying and uncovering the clay walls built around them. While creating profiles of one of the ovens I got the chance to practice my drawing skills by making my own field drawing of the cross sections of the oven which I deeply enjoyed.

Overall I’m incredibly grateful to be one of the recipients of a grant from the Riggs Hoenecke Student Experience Fund. Without this money I wouldn’t have been able to go on this trip and enrich not only my archaeological knowledge but also my cultural knowledge of Bulgaria. The skills I learned while abroad will be incredibly valuable to my future and I met so many wonderful people and made memories that will be near and dear to my heart for years to come.

It is difficult to find the words that adequately express my gratitude for the generosity of the Riggs Hoenecke fund. For as long as I can remember, my dream has been to contribute new knowledge to the world. During my final year at the University of Michigan, that dream became a reality, and it would not have been possible without the assistance from the donors.

After studying how tectonic forces influence faunal community composition in Lake Turkana last summer, my advisors were encouraging me to submit an abstract to the national meetings so I could present our findings to other up-and-coming and established biological anthropologists. I sent drafts of my abstract back and forth for weeks, editing and re-editing the same two lines, before finally submitting it. I was elated to hear that the abstract had been accepted and quickly began working on visually representing months of research on a 3x4 poster.

While at the conference, I was able to reconnect with the researchers that assisted me on the project, as well as meet with faculty at other universities. I was also able to attend presentations on emerging research in the field, which inspired me to pursue new research projects. I built my network, improved my presentation skills, and most importantly, learned a few new pieces of knowledge. However, the value of this experience goes beyond a few bullet points on my CV. I was able to do what every scientist dreams of: talk to anyone that would listen about my research.

My experience at the conference was a major professional milestone for me, and the funding was the foundation of that. Therefore, it is with my sincere gratitude that I thank you for your generosity; without it, I would not have fulfilled my childhood dream. 

In the summer of 2023, I was honored to receive the Riggs Hoenecke Prize for Undergraduate Research, which enabled me to conduct extensive fieldwork and interviews in Laredo, TX. My thesis, titled From Ghosts to Altars: Ancestors, Kinship, and Cultural Memory within a Chicano Family, explores the intricate ways my family interacts with ancestors, establishes kinship, and how displacement or migration has influenced these dynamics.

 My research spans three generations: the first generation, including my grandmother and her siblings; the second generation, comprising my mother, aunts, uncles, and cousins; and the third generation, which includes my siblings, cousins, and myself. Thanks to the Riggs Hoenecke grant, I was able to travel to Laredo, TX, where I engaged deeply with the first and second generations of my family. This immersive experience provided invaluable context and historical insights that were crucial in shaping my thesis.

 During my time in Laredo, I delved into family foodways, gathered photographs and documents, and visited cemeteries where my ancestors have been laid to rest for generations. These activities allowed me to collect data that expanded the scope of my thesis. The interviews and photographs I gathered not only enriched my understanding of my family’s history but also highlighted the cultural interplay between Laredo and Detroit, illustrating how these two cities have uniquely influenced my family’s narrative.

Below are some pictures I was able to take in Texas:

This summer, funds from the anthropology department made possible my participation in a field school through North Carolina State University at the Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project in Poli Chrysochous, Cyprus. The project was specifically focused on Late Chalcolithic and Early and Middle Bronze Ages, through the lens of copper exploitation, long-distance trade, agricultural practices, and rising social inequality immediately before the first Cypriot urban centers appear in the record.

I found this project incredibly interesting and my experience in Cyprus this summer will shape my long-term academic goals. My participation, made possible by this generous award from the anthropology department, was an important step in my training in hands-on archaeological science. Not only was I able to gain experience in excavation, but I also had valuable exposure to pottery washing, artifact cataloging, and the data processing required for these large excavation projects. From a more modern perspective, I also had an absolute blast learning more about the local culture. As a student of modern Greek, I found my time abroad invaluable for practicing my Greek. My favorite part of the program overall were the weekend field trips, where I had the opportunity to visit countless sites, both archaeological and modern cities, all over Cyprus.

In my future career, I intend to earn a PhD in anthropological archaeology focusing on the  Mediterranean region as well as the Near East. I know that this field school will open the door for my further study into these regions, particularly as I now plan to work in Cyprus next summer and ongoing in my career. I was also able to make connections with professionals in Cyprus at the CAARI conference we attended in Nicosia, expanding my web of contacts in the field.

My appreciation for your generosity is hardly measurable. The $2000 I received from the Riggs Hoenecke scholarship allowed me to participate in field research, an infrequent opportunity for those who, like myself, are not directly tied to the archaeological subfield of anthropology.

Currently, I am a junior majoring in Biopsychology, with an emphasis on human biology and evolution. I intend to pursue graduate-level education studying the interrelations between the biological bases of the human psyche and cultural variations across ancient to modern human populations. Knowing this, it appears that archaeology deviates from my personal goals, yet archaeology is the study of cultures in the past, making it inextricably intertwined with my tentative academic destinations.

I consider my brief time at the excavation in the Gobi to be enriching: the experience was dense with interactive activities that explored work spanning from field methodologies to laboratory techniques. I helped excavate one Xiongnu burial, two Bronze Age burials, and a cave, and of the four sites, the cave seemed to yield the most fascinating results of the season.

For the first time throughout Mongolian archaeology, Bronze Age beads were found outside of a burial, and more specifically, found from our cave. That scarcity of Bronze Age beads appears to have led some archaeologists to theorize that such beads were not worn in Mongolia; however, this finding has since then weakened, if not dismantled, that theory.

Aside from archaeology, I was also able to assist in more personal endeavors, such as becoming translator and co-director for an independent documentary film featuring the lifestyle of the nomads of the Mongolian Gobi, initiated by another student volunteer. This, along with all of the wonders that are encapsulated within my archaeological field experience of this summer, was beyond my imagination. I again thank the Anthropology Curriculum Committee and the donors’ benevolence for selecting me for the Riggs Hoenecke Undergraduate Experience Award, and allowing me to partake in a wholly magnificent adventure in the Gobi.

In summer 2022, I was granted funds to conduct fieldwork in Israel focusing on the Early Bronze period of Tell el-Hesi, a site located on the northern border of the Negev desert. My work in Israel this summer was focused on archaeological survey with my graduate student mentor, Kara Larson. We engaged in a pedestrian survey of the area surrounding our site, as well as other sites in the area that had been flagged following a 2008 survey. Our specific focus was on looking for any Early Bronze Age pottery, lithics, or other artifacts, but we were careful to note any of our findings. We also took particular note of zooarchaeological findings, as my mentor is also conducting isotopic analysis on this site for her thesis.

This funding was invaluable for my participation in this work, and I was so fortunate to have been able to go and build these new relationships and gain hands-on experience. On-site, I developed my skills in identifying different types of artifacts, as well as learning how to set up this kind of survey as well as the things that I will need to know once I move into graduate school and start leading my own projects. I learned how to set up such a survey method with flagging tape and squares as well as the process of cataloging and analyzing all the data. I also had the opportunity to work closely with Bill Isenberger, our Hesi GIS specialist, and familiarize myself with the methods and tools for his kind of research. I really found this interesting, and was so grateful for the opportunity to work in the field with him and the rest of the team at Hesi this summer.

My visit to Israel also afforded us the opportunity to visit plenty of archaeological andcultural sites in the region. We visited Masada, the Dead Sea, Petra, Jerusalem’s Old City (and all the cultural, religious, and historical monuments therein). These were incredible and unforgettable experiences of exploring a country and culture so different from Ann Arbor, where I grew up.

I’m also excited to be bringing this trip and my new experiences with me: in October, I plan to present a summary of our survey at the UMMAA Centennial Poster Session, and also to present my own research stemming from my visit to Israel at the ASOR conference in Boston in November as well as the 2023 SAA meeting in Portland. I am so fortunate and grateful for the opportunity to have met such wonderful people working in this field while abroad, and even more grateful to be able to see them again at these events and to meet even more professionals.

I’m truly grateful for the funding I received, as it is truly my stepping-off point into my field. I send my gratitude and endless thanks.

For six weeks this summer, I participated in an archaeological field school in Mongolia. It was truly a life-changing experience, causing me to realize the importance of archaeology, cultural heritage, and connecting with people around the world. I am sincerely grateful to have received support from the Riggs Hoenecke Undergraduate Student Experience Fund in order to facilitate my participation in this field school.

The first day we visited the excavation site remains vivid in my mind. Our leaders gave us a tour of the top of the steppe, which was dotted with no fewer than twelve looted burials. Burials typically consisted of a deep pit encircled by piles of stones, often with a larger pile on one edge, signaling where the looters had dumped the dirt as they dug. They varied in how recently they had been looted: in some pits, the grass had grown thick, while fresh dirt still covered the bottoms of others. As we walked along the steppe, someone proclaimed they had found a human bone, and it struck me how real these people had been. And how despicable it was that their graves had been dug up, their bones tossed carelessly to the side. At another burial, I found a piece of a human cranium. This was the first of many bones I would find during the excavation—so many that the shock eventually faded—but I remember the anger and sadness I felt picking it up. Archaeology, I realized, had tremendous potential to do good, and I felt more and more affirmed that I had made the right choice in my future career.

With each burial we completed, I grew more confident in my excavation skills. We started each burial by peeling off the layer of grass and moss that grew on the stone circle around the pit, stopping to take a progress picture when the rocks were brushed clean. We normally found a few broken pieces of artifacts on the surface, ranging from scraps of birch bark arrow quivers to carved bone ornaments, and occasionally human bones as well. Then we began on the pit itself, where we unearthed more substantial artifacts, such as bolts of silk, gold buckles, and bronze mirrors. We also found more human remains; some burials even contained mostly complete skeletons.

In Mongolia, I found that I was capable of so much more than I had ever imagined. Not only was I successful in doing archaeological fieldwork, further affirming my love for the subject, but I discovered that I love camping and traveling to distant places. Above all, I enjoyed making friends with the Mongolians we worked with—it was an honor to be able to learn about their culture and history as we excavated alongside them. Of course, I am very appreciative of the support of the Riggs Hoenecke Undergraduate Student Experience Fund for helping me have this amazing experience.

Thank you sincerely for your generous gift via the Riggs Hoenecke Undergraduate Student Experience Fund. Thanks to this grant, I was able to attend an archaeological field school in northern Mongolia this past summer. This was an incredible and enriching experience both to me personally, and to the cultural preservation of the region.

The sites we studied had been targets of heavy looting and consequently faced destruction, but with careful work, we were able to recover a number of artifacts including large pieces of silk and birch bark that had been nearly perfectly preserved in the cold and arid soil of the mountains for centuries. Additionally, we were able to recover and preserve human remains that had been disturbed by looters; later analysis of these specimens will be able to provide a wealth of information on peoples’ diets and use of landscapes in the Medieval period. I feel fortunate to have gained invaluable experience in working with these remains and artifacts in away that was both respectful and observant of important scientific methods.

I am confident that the memories I made and skills I gained on this trip will serve me well as I pursue my future career in archaeology. My summer would not have been possible without your support; thank you again for your generosity.

I am extremely grateful to have been selected as a recipient, and I would like to thank you for your generous donation.

This funding allowed me to explore my research interests and gain valuable lab experience by working in the Primate Behavior Lab at the University of Michigan. The specific goal of my research project was to determine if the Dual Hormone Hypothesis is supported in mountain gorillas. This hypothesis proposes that glucocorticoids interact with testosterone to influence status-seeking behaviors such as aggression, competition, and risk-taking. Several studies have provided evidence in support of this hypothesis, showing that high levels of cortisol block the effects of testosterone on these status-seeking and reproductive behaviors. However, the results are not conclusive, and some studies have described the opposite effect.

During summer 2022, I used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to detect testosterone levels in male mountain gorilla fecal samples. With this data, I was able to present preliminary results at the Midwest Primate Interest Group Conference in late October – my second scientific conference – and after further analysis, I will also be incorporating these results into my honors thesis on behavioral endocrinology. Furthermore, I plan to use my work on my honors thesis to contribute to a manuscript on the Dual Hormone Hypothesis that will be submitted for publication.

Overall, this funding has provided me with the opportunity to gain hundreds of hours of lab experience, present a poster at a scientific conference, pursue an honors thesis, and co-author a manuscript. I would like to thank you again for your funding that has provided me with incredible opportunities and enabled me to pursue my passions.

I was extremely pleased to recieve the Riggs Hoenecke Prize this year in order to complete my senior thesis project. My project, which is investigating the intraspecific variation in tooth abrasion in the genus Odocoileus, was made possible by this funding and I cannot thank you enough. It was my pleasure to be able to use this funding for travel and equipment in order to collect the data necessary for this project.

Below I have included some pictures that were taken at the museums I traveled to for this project.

As an overview, I traveled to the University of Florida Museum of Natural History where I
collected data from over 150 deer specimen, including 20 craniodental measurements and mesowear scoring (a metric of tooth abrasion). In addition to this I also used the funding to travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History where I was able to collect data from around 100 more specimen. In addition to covering travel expenses, this funding was also used to purchase equipment such as digital calipers as well as statistical software for analyzing the data I collected.

Again, thank you for your generous donation which allowed me to explore my research
interests. This funding was instrumental in allowing me to collect and analyze data for this project. 

Madison Caldwell

Jenna Dagher

Isabel Matias

Armando Otero

Josephine Schmidt

Macy Afsari

Patrick Potoczak

Madeline Topor

Angelina Adam

Martin Anderson

Gabriella Armstrong

Roy Gebara

Sabrina Kettler

Nicole Newman

Duey Smith

Madline Topor

Faith Williams

Alex Cashman

Emma Creamer

Caroline Richburg

Nicole Smith

Allegra Ward

Kelly Garland

Maya Goldman

Caroline Richburg

Brianne Yeskey