In the Lab

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. David Kriska is a biologist with expertise in the identification, protection, and stewardship of natural habitats in the Lake Erie ecoregion. He has spearheaded projects aimed at restoring rare habitats.

Dr. Nicole Burt began working at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 2014. Her position as Curator of Human Health & Evolutionary Medicine is 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. As part of this commitment, she has taken on service roles to support community health in Cleveland, such as serving as co-chair and a member of the Cleveland Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition Steering Committee.

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, molecular analysis, and even interviews, to explore health through the lens of evolutionary medicine. Methods formation and testing are a key part of her research program, with a focus on microsampling innovation and applying techniques to new fields. 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.

Much of Dr. Burt’s anthropological research uses a technique called stable isotope analysis, which measures the ratio of heavy to light stable isotopes—forms of elements (e.g., carbon or nitrogen) that have the same atomic number but a different number of neutrons—in a sample. Isotopes can be used to reconstruct past diets, study migration, or understand molecular preservation of samples. Dr. Burt’s microsampling technique even allows for reconstruction of maternal diet during pregnancy by analyzing the formation of recovered baby teeth.

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

Dr. David Kriska is a biologist with expertise in the identification, protection, and stewardship of natural habitats in the Lake Erie ecoregion. He has spearheaded projects aimed at restoring rare habitats.

Mia has worked at Mentor Marsh since 2017, starting out as a seasonal employee and moving into the Habitat Restoration Manager position in 2021. Mia is heavily involved in on-the-ground restoration activities at Mentor Marsh, including training and overseeing seasonal stewardship crews, re-vegetation, invasive species management, and long-term site management. While she was working as a seasonal employee at Mentor Marsh, she also worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Mia has a B.S. in Organismal Biology from Kent State University; during her time at Kent State, she worked in the University’s herbarium accessioning and organizing incoming plant specimens.

Along with her colleagues, she is a 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. Also, because of her and Dr. David Kriska's dedication and success in Restoring Mentor Marsh, they are both recipients of the Jared Potter Kirtland Award, granted in recognition of individuals who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the field of natural sciences.

Mia has worked at Mentor Marsh since 2017, starting out as a seasonal employee and moving into the Habitat Restoration Manager position in 2021. Mia is heavily involved in on-the-ground restoration activities at Mentor Marsh, including training and overseeing seasonal stewardship crews, re-vegetation, invasive species management, and long-term site management. While she was working as a seasonal employee at Mentor Marsh, she also worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Mia has a B.S. in Organismal Biology from Kent State University; during her time at Kent State, she worked in the University’s herbarium accessioning and organizing incoming plant specimens.

Along with her colleagues, she is a 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. Also, because of her and Dr. David Kriska's dedication and success in Restoring Mentor Marsh, they are both recipients of the Jared Potter Kirtland Award, granted in recognition of individuals who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the field of natural sciences.

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. Emma Finestone uses archaeological fieldwork to investigate adaptive shifts in the human lineage that relate to the early manufacture and use of stone tools. The origins of toolmaking have important implications for our ancestors’ relationship with their environment and their ability to forage for a wide range of food resources. Dr. Finestone’s field projects in eastern Africa span evolutionary changes over the past 3 million years and focus on reconstructing the mobility, range expansion, and landscape use of toolmakers to illuminate how early tool technology facilitated the spread of human ancestors around the globe. She studies some of the earliest-known stone tools, which were used to butcher hippos more than 2.6 million years ago. Her work has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.

Dr. Finestone is passionate about science communication and outreach. She is enthusiastic about sharing international fieldwork in human origins with the Cleveland community by acting as a local resource and ambassador for science. Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as Assistant Curator of Human Origins, Dr. Finestone served as Group Leader of Archaeology and Head of the Archaeology Laboratory Unit at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Previously, she served as an instructor at Lehman College and Hunter College and as a research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya.

Dr. Finestone received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology in 2019 from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Prior to her time at CUNY, she worked in the Conservation and Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying the foraging and tool behaviors of chimpanzees and gorillas. Dr. Finestone earned a B.A. with honors in anthropology and biology from the University of Chicago in 2010.

Research areas: Oldowan, paleoanthropology, lithic analysis, hominin evolution

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. Emma Finestone uses archaeological fieldwork to investigate adaptive shifts in the human lineage that relate to the early manufacture and use of stone tools. The origins of toolmaking have important implications for our ancestors’ relationship with their environment and their ability to forage for a wide range of food resources. Dr. Finestone’s field projects in eastern Africa span evolutionary changes over the past 3 million years and focus on reconstructing the mobility, range expansion, and landscape use of toolmakers to illuminate how early tool technology facilitated the spread of human ancestors around the globe. She studies some of the earliest-known stone tools, which were used to butcher hippos more than 2.6 million years ago. Her work has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.

Dr. Finestone is passionate about science communication and outreach. She is enthusiastic about sharing international fieldwork in human origins with the Cleveland community by acting as a local resource and ambassador for science. Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Natural History as Assistant Curator of Human Origins, Dr. Finestone served as Group Leader of Archaeology and Head of the Archaeology Laboratory Unit at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Previously, she served as an instructor at Lehman College and Hunter College and as a research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya.

Dr. Finestone received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology in 2019 from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Prior to her time at CUNY, she worked in the Conservation and Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying the foraging and tool behaviors of chimpanzees and gorillas. Dr. Finestone earned a B.A. with honors in anthropology and biology from the University of Chicago in 2010.

Research areas: Oldowan, paleoanthropology, lithic analysis, hominin evolution

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.