Graduation 2026
Please join the Department of Anthropology in congratulating our Class of 2026!
A message from Dietrich Stout, Anthropology Department Chair:
"Congratulations!
On behalf of the Department of Anthropology, I want to say how proud we are of your many
achievements during your me here at Emory. We wish you the very best as you move forward with your careers
and hope that you will stay in touch with us. You are part of our community and we would love to hear from you!
With all my best wishes.
Dietrich Stout,
Professor and Chair, Anthropology"
Class of 2026
Daniela Adler
Jyoti Alaparthi
Rachel Alpert-Wisnia
Abby Brown
Kyra Sydney Caldwell
Sophia Castro
Isabella Colindres
Mahliet Demissie
Kailey Diatikar
Tess Enemark
Karina Esquer Amezcua
Laila Farmer
Anvitha Gadipudi
Lucy Gardner
Alina Glass
Sara Gotkin
Arayah Hampton
Richmond Hodo
Montana Jackson
Alyssa Jang
Joam Jeannite
Silmi Jiwani
Alya Khoury
Bliss Kim
Roaa Kordeir
Sia Kripalani
Olivia Landever
Evelyn LeDesma
Matthew Lee
Nica Leung
Amy Lin
Theodore Lin
Ann Liu
Andrea Lopez
Claire McGovern
Saanvi Nayar
Lilian Nguyen
Shwetha Nidyanandh
Zuri Omari-Muhammad
Akshay Padala
Amal Panjwani
Padraig Pantoja
Nikki Patterson
Nicole Paula
Dylan Plemper
Srinidhi Prasad
Nacole Rhodes
Abby Rollins
Melina Ross
Ariana Rossuck
Paul Saah Jr.
Fatima Safdar
Che Skeete
Ava Sklar
Daniel Sorungbe
Srinivas Sowmiyanarayanan
Madeleine Szabo
Camlyn Takahashi
Dakota Taufeeq
Natu Tewelde
Aditi Thakare
Sasha Trukhnova
Elyssa Wagshal
Amaris Watts
Ellen White
Meadow Worthley
Fei Xu
Tom Zhang
Jackie Zhou
Honors and Awards Recipients
2026 Anthropology Student Awards
The Anthropology Department is pleased to announce our 2025 student award winners! Undergraduate awards were presented at our annual Honors and Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 25. We are so proud of our many impressive students. Please join us in congratulating them!
Outstanding Senior Award: Theo Lin
Outstanding Junior Award: Anna Yego, Carily Aikens, Peri Rhoads
Trevor E. Stokol Scholarship(awarded for 2026-27): Nellie Gregg
Marjorie Shostak Award, Undergraduate: Sasha Trukhnova
Marjorie Shostak Award, Graduate: Jo Abillama
George Armelagos Award: SJ Dillion
Read more about this year’s honors students and their projects on our 2026 Honors Students page.
Honors Students
Name: Mahliet Demissie
Title of Honors Thesis: The Sacred Plate: Food, Faith and Limits of Secular Dietary Labels in Ethiopian Orthodox Tsom
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Ham
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: Hominin population connectivity and isolation across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition: Toward an application of density-based spatial clustering in understanding mechanisms of hominin macroevolution
Advisor: Dr. Laura van Holstein
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: Roots: An Ethnobotanical Inquiry Into the Maintenance of Barbadian Plant Medicines from the Era of Enslavement in Present-day Barbadians
Advisor:Dr. Cassandra Quave
Major: Anthropology & Human Bio (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: YOUPHORIA: Multimodal Experience in Rave, Religion, and Personal Inquary
Advisor: Dr. Debra Vidali
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: The Role of NADPH Oxidase 4 (NOX4) in the Regulation of Cardiac Fibrosis in Heart Failure
Advisor:Michael A. Burke, MD
Major: Anthropology (BA)
Title of Honors Thesis: Kitchens of Becoming: Gender, Foodwork, and Transformation in Morocco
Advisor: Dr. Peter Little
Major: Anthropology (BA)
Title of Honors Thesis: The Unstable Anchor: Navigating Tradition, Chineseness, and Moral Life Among Guangzhou College Youth
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Rodriguez
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: Deconstructing Sexuality in Primates: Analyzing Same-Sex Sexual Behavior in Wild White-faced Capuchins in Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Advisor: Dr. Marcela Benitez
Lambda Alpha is the national honors society for anthropology. Members must be juniors or seniors, have completed at least 14 credits of Anthropology coursework, and meet GPA requirements.
Jyoti Alaparthi
Vinay Devulapalli
Karina Esquer-Amezcua
Lucy Gardner
Alina Marie Glass
Silmi Jiwani
Olivia Landever
Xinyu Liu
Amal Panjwani
Padraig Pantoja
Srinidhi Prasad
Madeline Szabo