Dr. Christine France recently returned from the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology where she presented her work on the stable isotopic indications of diet and provenance in historic North American humans. Several publications detailing this ongoing work are in preparation - stay tuned to our publications page for more info. Dr. Anne Wiley continues her work on the feeding habits of the endangered Hawaiian petrel as the 2011/2012 Stable Isotope Post-doctoral Fellow. She has completed hundreds of analyses and is producing valuable data regarding feeding specialization that will assist in conservation efforts of this valuable species. Dr. Aoife O'Halloran joined the stable isotope lab group as a post-doctoral fellow earlier this year. She is heading a joint project with the National Zoological Park in an effort to determine the causes of premature death in captive Nautilus pompilius. This highly interdisciplinary project is the first to incorporate a complete suite of stable isotopic analyses, ICP-MS, XRD, SEM, and proteomic analyses of shell composition and structure. Again, stay tuned to our publications page for the results of this exciting research!
The stable isotope lab is preparing to welcome our first interns as part of the new Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute Analytical Studies Group Intern Program sponsored by Dr. France's NSF REU Site award. We look forward to welcoming Raquel Fleskes, Danielle Dunn, and Charlotte Doney who will be working on our ongoing projects involving analysis of human remains, dating of collagen specimens, and collagen diagenesis.
Contact
For further information regarding the Smithsonian Institution OUSS/MCI Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Facility please contact Peter Marra or Christine France