DR. HEATHER EDGAR
Lab Director
Heather J.H. Edgar, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Forensic Anthropologist for the Office of the Medical Investigator, New Mexico. She became a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology in 2020. Trained primarily in bioarchaeology, the study of human populations in the recent (<10,000 years) past, she received her education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (BA), Arizona State University (MA) and Ohio State University (PhD). She is the project director for the New Mexico Decedent Image Database, which provides free access for qualified researchers to de-identified, richly documented CT scans of over 15,000 decedents. Her current research includes improving the identification of missing and murdered American Indians, and investigating inequity related to mortality, ethnicity, and other factors among New Mexicans.
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Contact: hjhedgar@unm.edu
PAIGE LYNCH
Graduate Student
I received my Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Pennsylvania State University and my Master's in Forensic Anthropology from Mercyhurst University. My general interests include: forensic anthropology, structural violence, social inequalities, stable isotope analyses, human osteology, and archaeology. My current research focuses on understanding how structural violence influences access to resources in Colonial Period Mexico. I work at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator as a Morphology Technician, assisting with cases requiring a forensic anthropologist. Current projects I am a part of include working with Dr. Edgar and colleagues examining structural violence in Colonial Mexico and with Dr. Prufer on the Bladen Paleoindian and Archaic Project. My previous excavation experience includes forensic cases in the northeast US, and archaeological sites in Belize, Spain, and Israel.
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Contact: pal5154@unm.edu
NIKKI APPEL
Graduate Student
I am currently a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology interested in studying the ways our society and environment biologically affect the process of aging. I received by Bachelor's degree in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Anthropology from the University of Miami. I later received my Master's in Forensic Anthropology from Boston University. For my Master's thesis I examined long term cocaine use and its potential effect on bone morphology. Currently, I am working on a project involving the collection of 3D measurements from CT scans of skulls and long bones obtained through the New Mexico Decedent Image Database. The measurements taken will be used to assist in a more accurate estimation of individuals of Native American Descent and aid with the growing problem of Missing and Murdered American Indians. I also hold a position at the Office of the Medical Investigator as an Anthropology Morphology Technician. There, I assist in case work that requires forensic anthropological analyses.
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Contact: nappel@unm.edu
ESTEBAN RANGEL
Graduate Student
I’m a PhD student in the Evolutionary Anthropology subfield. My main interests lie at the intersection of biological anthropology, archaeology, and cultural practices. I received my Bachelor’s in Anthropology with a minor in Geography from Texas State University and my Master’s in Anthropology from Eastern New Mexico University. My thesis project involved studying Andean identity using on geometric morphometric analysis of modified crania.
I am research assistant helping with the collection of 3D landmark data for the Missing and Murdered American Indians project and I am also one of the osteologists for the Belize Paleoindian and Archaic Archaeological Project. My main interests are in bioarchaeology, 3D geometric morphometrics, cranial vault modification, identity/personhood, biocultural practices, mortuary archaeology, Mesoamerican archaeology, and cranial morphology.
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Contact: estebanrangel1@unm.edu
JASMINE HERNANDEZ
Graduate Student
I am a PhD student in the Evolutionary Anthropology subfield. I received my B.A in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and my M.S. in Human Skeletal Biology from NYU. MY master’s thesis looked at the histology of the ulna. I was interested in investigating if the attachment of the interosseous membrane, a load sharing soft tissue structure between the radius and ulna, was affecting rates of remodeling. I am broadly interested in ancestry estimation methods in forensic anthropology, looking towards the improvement of broad classifications. My current research assistantship is through an NSF grant, in collaboration with Texas State, that is working to map migrant deaths along the US-Mexico border.
​​Contact: jaruez27@unm.edu
JANA MEYER
Graduate Student
Hello! I am a PhD student in Anthropology (Archaeology subfield), studying how activity and resource distribution affected the lives and livelihoods of people in the past. As a bioarchaeologist, I study archaeological human remains, focusing on questions of health and methods of activity reconstruction. My dissertation plans involve the attempt to identify patterns of manual activity – as reflected in entheseal changes of the hand and forearm bones – related to craft production among Ancestral Puebloans from the Pueblo IV Period. I intend to use 3D geometric morphometric analyses based on 3D Scans of bones to identify differential manual activity patterns within and between sites to assess in how far osteological evidence suggests the presence of potential (part-time) craft specialists within villages, and to test for inter-village specialization. My other general interests include juvenile osteology, burial practices, biological relationships between individuals and populations based on non-metric skeletal traits, and GIS-based studies on the intra-site organization of various aspects of communal life in the past.
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Contact: janavalesca@unm.edu
NADIA NEFF
Graduate Student
I am a PhD student in the archaeology subfield. My research interests include the bioarchaeology and historical ecology of Mesoamerica, human-environment interactions, ZooMS, and stable isotope analysis. I received my BA in anthropology in 2013 from Fort Lewis College, and my MSc in Bioarchaeology from the University of York in 2016. During my Master’s, I worked on optimizing the biomolecular protein analysis method ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) in application to battlefield archaeology, specifically to identify the location of several missing mass graves from the War of Roses, Battle of Towton (1461). My dissertation research focuses on using compound specific isotope analysis coupled with radiocarbon analysis to investigate human-landscape interactions over an 11,000 year period in southern Belize. I also currently work as a Contract Osteologist for the Office of Archaeological Studies NMBIOARCH database project in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Contact: ncneff@unm.edu
DR. KELLY KAMNIKAR
Post-Doctoral Fellow
I received my PhD in Biological Anthropology with a focus in forensic anthropology from Michigan State University. I am broadly interested in the relationship between craniofacial variation and population affinity estimates in forensic anthropology and the application of anthropological methods to human rights. My dissertation research examines craniofacial variation in Latin American samples as related to population affinity estimates for deceased migrant populations at the Mexico-US border. At the University of New Mexico, I am working with Dr. Edgar’s team on improving biological profile methodology for Native Americans using data from the New Mexico Decedent Image Database. Additionally, I am involved in several international research projects that focus on forensic anthropology in Guatemala and the Republic of Georgia.
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Contact: kkamnikar@unm.edu
MICAYLA SPIROS
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My name is Dr. Micayla Spiros. Currently, I am the postdoctoral fellow working as the forensic anthropologist with the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator working on the Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) grant.
I earned my Ph.D.in Anthropology from Michigan State University in 2024 researching postcranial variation in the human skeleton. My research interests include human skeletal biology, exploring human variation from a biocultural perspective, decision making, artificial intelligence, and cognitive bias in forensic anthropology, and digital pedagogy.
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Contact: mspiros@unm.edu
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MADISON BUTLER
Undergraduate Student
I graduated with my bachelor’s degrees in evolutionary anthropology and psychology in May 2024. My honors thesis explored the effects of calorie restriction on cortical bone mass of growing individuals. During my undergraduate education I worked as a research assistant on the Missing and Murdered American Indian project and as an osteology assistant at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. I have also worked as a remote research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Ian Wallace. My research interests include human skeletal biology, forensic anthropology, growth and development, bioarcheology, and mortuary analysis. I am currently applying for forensic anthropology graduate programs. While in graduate school I hope to conduct research surrounding the juvenile skeleton.
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Contact: mbutler22@unm.edu
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BRITTANY WEXLER
Forensic Anthropology Research Technician
I am the Forensic Anthropology Research Technican at the Office of the Medical Investigator. My role is to asssist the Forensic Anthropologist’s with their day-to-day case load, prepare unidentified decedent’s for long term storage, and maintain the laboratories. I have a MSc Degree in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Dundee and received my BSc degree from the Ohio State University in Anthropological Sciences with minors in forensic science and chemistry. My master’s dissertation examined whether new technology can improve established methodologies in the surface search for human remains in different enviornments. I worked as an Autopsy Technician and Anthropology Assistant at the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center (WTRFC) for nearly three years before reciveing my current position. During my time at the WTRFC, I performed over 700 forensic autopsies and assisted with numerous anthropologic cases in the lab and the field. I presented a poster at the 2024 American Academy of Forensic Science Conference on the success rates for positive identifcation using multiple fingerprint methods in a Mid-South population. I hope to continue my education and research as a phD student in the years to come.​
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Contact: bwexler@salud.unm.edu
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