MS Alumni
ALISON KIRKHAM, MS, 2018
After completing her MS in 2018, Alison Kirkham became Head of Marketing and Research with the Rocky Mountain Micro Ranch in Denver, Colorado. This small start-up farms and processes insects for human consumption both locally and at an international level. As Head of Marketing and Research, Alison assesses customer perceptions, needs, and purchasing habits, as well as helping the farming aspect become more efficient.
GARETT HUNT, MS, 2015
Shortly after graduating, Garett Hunt became a CRM-consultant at Fisher Archaeological Consulting.
MARIE ELIZABETH GRÁVALOS, MS, 2014
Dr. Grávalos is a post-doctoral scholar at Stanford University’s Archaeology Center. From 2021 to 23 she was a Post-Doctoral Scientist at Chicago’s Field Museum, and she was a Junior Fellow in Pre-Columbian Studies at Dunbarton Oaks from 2020 to 2021. After completing her M.S. here at Purdue, she went on to earn her PhD at The University of Illinois, Chicago in 2021. She specializes in the archaeology and art of the Americas, especially the Andes. Her work has been generously funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Rust Family Foundation, the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and UIC.
ANAHID MATOSSIAN, MS, 2013
Anahid Matossian is a doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology at the University of Kentucky. She is currently in Yerevan, Armenia doing ethnographic fieldwork with Syrian Armenian refugee women. Before she was in Kentucky, she lived and worked in Virginia with the Marine Corps, and decided to go back to graduate school after the Syrian conflict affected my family personally in Aleppo.
SARAH SOFFER, MS, 2012
In May 2014 Sarah Soffer completed her Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She joined the Air Force Reserve in December of 2015 and was an Emergency Manager -- taught CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) threats and response, and responded to HAZMAT or other CBRN incidents. She was working for Boeing as well during this time. She married in January 2018, and was commissioned as an active duty Air Force officer in March 2018. She is an Information Operations Officer, which has a psychology or anthropology degree requirement. She is stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ, and her current big project is serving as the Air Force lead for Information Operations for New Horizons in a South American country in 2019. New Horizons is a joint service effort to build partnerships in South and Central America through building schools, building community centers, improving infrastructure, and working with/training local surgeons and doctors. She coordinates all of the messaging for this project and ensures all military personnel, host nation partners, and US government are on the same page about what they are accomplishing while in this South American country and why we are there. She also leads the effort to assess the effects on people's perception, beliefs, and behaviors through surveys, interviews, and participant observation! As per Ms. Soffer, “It is definitely rewarding work, and I love getting to use the skills I developed as an anthropologist and a psychologist.”
AMY LAW, MS, 2010
Amy Law is Business Process Manager at Apple. Her husband works at Google, and she they have two young children. She currently volunteers in her children’s schools -- raising funds for title one schools, raising awareness of early intervention, and bringing art and music back to school are her current challenges.
HEATHER FRIGIOLA, MS, 2009
Heather Frigiola has been working primarily as an artist and creative writer. She has written two books. The first book was a fanciful work published under a pen name. Her book, Monsters and Mythical Creatures from around the World, was published in 2019. Ms. Frigiola has had intermittent involvement with academia over the years, serving as a guest lecturer at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
RAVINA AGGARWAL, MS, 1988
Ravina Aggarwal is currently a self-employed Social Scientist, Writer, Higher Education and Nonprofit Consultant. From 2015 to 2023, she served as Director of the Columbia Global Centers in Mumbai. She is a sociocultural anthropologist with a doctoral degree from Indiana University in 1994. Dr. Aggarwal taught in the Department of Anthropology for over a decade and also served on the Women’s Studies Program at Smith College, where she became a tenured faculty member. Her research is based on extensive fieldwork in the Himalayas and her areas of study and teaching included political anthropology, peace-building, cultural studies, gender, and development.
Prior to joining the Center, Dr. Aggarwal worked at the Ford Foundation’s New Delhi office from 2007-2015, where she was responsible for strategic planning and grant-making for programs on development, social justice and public policy, with a focus on the fields of education, media and information technology, and arts and culture. As part of her work on bridging the digital divide, she served on the jury of the mBillionth Award, the Manthan Award, and on the Innovation Committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She is one of the two founders of the Ladakh Arts and Media Organization and its trustee from 1997-2018.
Dr. Aggarwal is the author of several publications, including Beyond Lines of Control: Performing the Border in Ladakh, India (Duke University Press, Seagull Books) and the editor of Into the High Ranges (Penguin India) and Forsaking Paradise (Katha). She has also written a mystery novel for young adults set in the Himalayas.
GREGORY VEECK, MS, 1980
Dr. Gregory Veeck is a professor in the Department of Geography at Western Michigan University specializing in economic geography, agriculture, rural development, and rural environmental and ecological issues. He received his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of Georgia, and has been in his current position at Western Michigan since 1999. His international research is conducted in Asia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan has been funded by the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Rural Development Institute), to name a few. He has been awarded a number of fellowships from organizations including the American Philosophical Society, National Geographic Society, and the Sasakawa Foundation of Japan. Articles based on research projects have been published in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, The Professional Geographer, and Gastronomica, among others. In addition to research articles, he has written, edited, or co-edited nine books, one of which, Geography of China, is in the third edition.
MICHAEL CAUTHEN, MS, 1980
Michael D. Cauthen earned an M.S. in Anthropology between 1978 and 1985. He is Professor Emeritus in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He has published and delivered papers on race, race and education, the race and intelligence debate, and the “Black-White test score gap.” He also co-authored a 2009 book entitled, The Student Athlete’s Guide to College Recruitment. Prof. Cauthen was selected for inclusion in the 2004 Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers; and was the President of the South Atlantic Philosophy of Education Society from 2006-2008. He is the chair of his Program’s Whitney “Whitty” Ransome Scholarship in African American and African Diaspora Studies Committee and advises the African American Studies Club. He is also a very proud father.