In the Lab

Ken Schneider is the Administrative Coordinator for Research & Collections and Natural Areas at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He has been with the Museum since 2015, initially as a Seasonal Land Steward, then as Mentor Marsh Restoration Manager. Prior to coming to the Museum, Schneider worked in the nonprofit world, as a bookseller, and for many years in book publishing. Along with his colleagues, he is a 2019 recipient of the Natural Areas Association’s Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award, granted in recognition of excellence in the management and restoration of the Museum’s Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve.

Garrett Ormiston is the Manager of Preserve Operations for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Natural Areas Program. In this role, he helps to oversee about 12,500 acres of natural habitat in Northeast Ohio. Each of the Museum's preserves represents one or more different ecosystems that occur in this region. Ormiston works on land-conservation projects for the Museum, and helps to direct land-management and stewardship operations on the preserves.

Dr. Elizabeth (Ebeth) Sawchuk is a bioarchaeologist who studies modern human evolution and population history in Africa over the past 50,000 years. Her interests include how herding and farming spread into sub-Saharan Africa beginning approximately 5,000 years ago, and how ancient peoples navigated issues of climate change, shifting economic and land-use strategies, and contact with foreign groups. Her work integrates diverse lines of evidence from archaeology, skeletal biology, dental anthropology, and ancient DNA to understand how past peoples coped with major changes in their world and what lessons can be learned from their experiences.

Dr. Sawchuk has worked at field sites across eastern Africa and maintains an active research program in Kenya in collaboration with the Turkana Basin Institute and the National Museums of Kenya. Her research has been published in journals such as Antiquity, African Archaeological Review, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Nature, Science, Science Advances, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and PLOS One (for more information, check out Dr. Sawchuk’s Google Scholar profile). Her work is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Turkana Basin Institute, and the National Geographic Society.

Dr. Sawchuk advocates for ethical research in anthropology; community-based approaches; and equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is committed to fostering equitable partnerships between archaeologists, curators, and the communities with whom they work, as well as developing best practices for museums’ stewardship of and policies for research on human remains. Recently, she co-organized the first ancient DNA and DNA conference held in Africa, hosted by the National Museums of Kenya.

Dr. Sawchuk earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Toronto and bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in anthropology, from the University of Alberta. Prior to joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, she served as Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, Canada. She holds additional academic affiliations as an Adjunct Professor in Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio; a Research Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University, New York; and a Research Associate with the Turkana Basin Institute, Kenya.

Research areas: Bioarchaeology, ethics, health and disease, dental anthropology, ancient DNA, Africa

Dr. Caitlin Colleary is a vertebrate paleontologist with expertise in the molecules that preserve in fossilized bone. She is particularly interested in the question "What is a fossil?" In the last few decades, it has become clear that this question is much more nuanced than previously considered and that original biological information has the potential to preserve on long timescales.

Dr. Colleary explores how incorporating new techniques and technology can make it possible to examine fossils on a molecular scale, uncovering information previously inaccessible. She has studied pigment preservation in fossilized soft tissues and integument. She is especially interested in fossils that are not considered to be exceptionally preserved, such as bones and teeth, which are commonly found in the fossil record but may also contain soft tissues. Discovering and studying soft tissues and molecular data in the fossil record have the potential to expand what we currently know about ancient animals.

Dr. Colleary started her academic journey at Los Angeles Valley College and transferred to UCLA, where she received a B.A. in anthropology. She received her M.Sc. in paleobiology from the University of Bristol and her Ph.D. in geosciences from Virginia Tech. Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in January 2020, she was the Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute.

Dr. Hyoung Suk Suh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Before joining CWRU in 2023, he was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. (2022) as a Presidential Fellow, following his B.S. (2015) and M.S. (2017) from Yonsei University in South Korea.

Dr. Suh is actively involved in the scientific community, contributing to several committees within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI), including Computational Mechanics, Machine Learning in Mechanics, and Poromechanics Committees. He also participates in multiple U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM) Technical Thrust Areas, such as Data-Driven Modeling, Earth & Energy Systems, and Mathematical Methods in Computational Engineering & Sciences. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Board of Cold Regions Science and Technology.

Supported by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, and CWRU, Dr. Suh’s research group focuses on understanding how geological materials respond to combined effects of stress, fluid flow, heat, and chemical reactions. His group develops advanced mathematical and computational models to capture these complex interactions, integrating high-resolution imaging, sub-scale simulations, and machine learning. By combining these approaches, they aim to create predictive models that are both accurate and practical for real-world applications.

Zixi joined Dr. Suh’s research group in Fall 2024 as a Ph.D. student and is a recipient of the Swanger Graduate Fellowship from the Case School of Engineering. She earned her M.S. (2023) in Engineering Science and Mechanics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and her B.S. (2020) in Physics and Mathematics (double major) at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Mohammad joined Dr. Suh’s research group in Spring 2025 as a Ph.D. student. He earned his B.S. (2015) in Mining Engineering and an M.S. (2018) in Rock Mechanics at the University of Zanjan, Iran. He was recently nominated for the Saada Family Fellowship from the Case Alumni Foundation.

Dr. Gabriella Wolff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Case Western Reserve University. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Arizona and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Washington. Her research interests include insect sensing and evolution of learning and memory brain structures in insects, crustaceans, and arachnids.

Dr. Nicole Burt is the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Senior Director of Curatorial and Research Affairs. In this role, Dr. Burt leads the formulation, coordination, and execution of all science-based research and institutional initiatives at the Museum, guiding the organization’s curatorial vision and strategic direction in both the Research and Natural Areas divisions.

As the Senior Director of Curatorial and Research Affairs, Dr. Burt works to deepen the impact of Museum research programs and enhance collection stewardship. A key part of this role involves fostering a culture of communication and collaboration across the organization, promoting excellence and innovation in natural history scholarship. Dr. Burt’s leadership is instrumental in strengthening partnerships with universities, research institutions, and government agencies, while supporting learning opportunities for aspiring scientists.

Dr. Burt first joined the Museum as its Curator of Human Health & Evolutionary Medicine in 2014. This role was part of the legacy of the Museum’s 2007 merger with HealthSpace Cleveland, which made human health a cornerstone of the Museum’s mission and programming. Dr. Burt facilitates the Museum’s ongoing commitment and connection to Cleveland’s medical and health communities. She is an advocate for fostering equitable partnerships between scientists, museums, and the communities with whom they work.

Dr. Burt is a biological anthropologist who works with both archaeological and modern human populations. Her research centers around the question, “What does it mean to be healthy?” and utilizes the best research and educational practices to promote understanding and empower the Museum community to take action. Her interdisciplinary approach combines many methods, including histology, stable isotope analysis, and even interviews, to explore health through the lens of evolutionary medicine. In addition to her anthropological research, Dr. Burt contributes to the literature on bioethics in museums, informal learning pedagogy, and creating evolutionary medicine–informed curricula for medical education.

Dr. Burt earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Alberta, a master's degree in forensic science from Michigan State University, and a bachelor's degree from Beloit College.

Research areas: Diet and health, food access, bioethics, early-childhood feeding practice, One Health, osteology, stable isotope reconstruction, methods testing, informal learning pedagogy