Lorraine W. Hu [email protected] (603) 978-6688
WUSTL Department of Anthropology Campus Box 1114, 1 Brookings Dr St. Louis, MO 63130
EDUCATION Fall 2013 Study Abroad/Field School, Turkana Basin Institute, Kenya Stony Brook University
2014 B.A., Biological Anthropology and Teacher Education New York University
2015 Non-matriculated graduate study, Stony Brook University Graduate seminars in African Archaeology, Biostatistics 2018 M.A., Anthropology Washington University in Saint Louis 2019- Ph.D. candidate, Anthropology Washington University in St. Louis
AWARDS AND GRANTS 2014 NYU Finish Line Grant, $2,500 2017 SAA Historically Underrepresented Groups Scholarship, $3,000 2017 George R. Throop Endowment Award, $1,200 2018-2021 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, $34,000 per year 2019-2020 NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award, $26,458
RESEARCH INTERESTS: East African pastoralism, mortuary archaeology, bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, remote sensing
LANGUAGES: Fluent speaker of Mandarin, intermediate knowledge of reading and writing. Conversational speaker of Swahili and Spanish, intermediate knowledge of reading and writing.
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS 2017 Introduction to Human Evolution 2018 Archaeology of Ancient Egypt 2019 Ancient Africa: Social Mosaics and Environmental Challenges 2020 The Pandemic: Science and Society 2020 Earth’s Future: Causes and Consequences of Global Climate Change
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE 2014 Lab Assistant for Dr. Shara Bailey, NYU anthropology department - Operated NextEngine 3D scanner and GeoMagic programs in scanning primate dental cast collection 2013-14 Research Assistant for Dr. Dino Martins, director of the Turkana Basin Institute Field School - Conducted a pilot project on the effects of acacia tree ownership and charcoal production by the local Turkana villages on deforestation in the Turkana Basin - Collected data tracking of the breeding sites of the malarial mosquitoes in the Turkana Basin Institute area 2014 Research Assistant for Dr. Terry Harrison, NYU anthropology department - Collected measurements of phenotypic variation in dental morphology of late Pleistocene cercopithecines - Worked on specimens in primate collections at the American Museum of Natural History 2014 Field Assistant, Later Prehistory of West Turkana archaeological project in Kenya. Project directors Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand and Dr. Katherine Grillo - Assisted with documentation and excavations - Identified, sorted, and archived osteological material - Created master archive of osteological material 2014-15 Archaeological Technician, State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program; NH Department of Historical Resources - Excavated and participated in documentation of Paleoindian lithic production and sourcing sites, conducted shovel testing 2014-15 Lab Assistant, Stony Brook University Department of Anatomical Sciences - Helped create digitized model of bipedal chimpanzee using video tracking software programs ProAnalyst and XCitex 2016 SAIE Lab, Washington University in Saint Louis - ArcGIS analysis of land use among modern and archaeological pastoralists in southwest Kenya 2017 Geoarchaeology Lab, Washington University in Saint Louis - Geoarchaeological analysis of sediments using magnetic susceptibility, particle size analysis, loss-on-ignition, FTIR Fall 2019 - Dissertation Research, Kenya Spring 2020 - Analysis of cremated human remains and associated funerary material at the Kenya National Museum, Nairobi - Project director of pastoralist settlement remote sensing survey at Silanga, Lukenya Hill, Machakos County - Documented GPS locations of Njoro River Cave cremation sites, Nakuru County - Sediment sampling around Noomparrua Nkosesia cremation site, Narok County - Collaborative botanical sampling with Henry Saitabau and community
PUBLICATIONS Marshall, F., Reid, R., Goldstein, S., Storozum M., Wreschnig A., Hu L., Kiura P., Shahack-Gross R., Ambrose S. (2018). Ancient herders enriched and restructured African savannas. Nature. 561(7723): 387–390. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0456-9
PRESENTATIONS 2017 Excavations at Noomparrua Nkosesia, a Pastoral Neolithic Cremation Site Washington University in Saint Louis, Friday Archaeology Lecture Series
2018 A Multiproxy Study of Sediments at Noomparrua Nkosesia, a Pastoral Neolithic Cremation Site in Southwestern Kenya 83rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, poster
2018 Mapping Cahokia’s Upside Down: Geophysical Survey along the Western Edge of the Grand Plaza Edward Henry, J. Grant Stauffer, Seth Grooms, Joy Mersmann, Lorraine Hu, Grace Apfeld 2018 Southeast Archaeological Conference, poster
2019 Of Fire and Stone: Cremation and Secondary Burial Practices at Noomparrua Nkosesia, a Pastoral Neolithic Site in Southwest Kenya Lorraine Hu, Fiona Marshall, Henry Saitabau, Angela Kabiru, and Stanley H. Ambrose 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, presentation
GUEST LECTURES 2018 Class: Introduction to Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis “An Introduction to Geoarchaeology” lecture and lab
2019 Class: Introduction to Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis “An Introduction to Geoarchaeology” lecture and lab
2019 Class: Ancient Africa: Social Mosaics and Environmental Challenges, Washington University in St. Louis “Hunters and Herders: A Story of Domestication in Africa” and “Moving South: The Spread of Pastoralism in Africa”
2020 Class: Securing Food: (Pre)historic Perspectives, Present Challenges, and the Future of Human Subsistence, Washington University in St. Louis “Pastoralist Histories, Food Security, and the Legacies of Colonialism” and “The Serengeti-Mara and the Conflict Over Conservation”
PAID EXPERIENCE Summer 2016 Archaeologist, Schoharie River Center - Taught basics of archaeological theory and excavation methods
Summer 2018 Scientist/Artist-in-Residence, White Mountain Science Initiative, New Hampshire - Created digital sprites for Scratch animation software - Guest presentations on archaeology, diversity in science
SERVICE 2017-18 Coordinator, Friday Archaeology Public Seminar Series at Washington University in Saint Louis
2018-19 Graduate Peer Mentor, Washington University in Saint Louis
2020 Co-organizer, Under-Represented Minorities in Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis
LANGUAGES: Fluent speaker of Mandarin, intermediate knowledge of reading and writing. Conversational speaker of Swahili and Spanish, intermediate knowledge of reading and writing.