The Department of Anthropology is pleased to announce that PhD student Jordi Rivera Prince has been awarded a prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Ford Predoctoral Fellowship to support her dissertation research.
This year the program awarded approximately 70 predoctoral fellowships in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation. The awards are made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Jordi’s research focuses on the bioarchaeology of ancient maritime communities in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru. Through skeletal analysis, her project seeks to reconstruct the paleodemography and health status of individuals excavated at the Jose Olaya site in Huanchaco (15 km north of modern-day Trujillo). Furthermore, she seeks to investigate the role of migration, maritime resource exploitation, development of social stratification, and gendered labor divisions ca. 400 BC-200 AD in the locality. This project is deeply tied to local communities, where she will continue mentorship of Peruvian archaeology students at the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and local Huanchaco students.