Research Rookies Student Profiles
Name: Lindsey Komes
Cohort: Freshman Research Rookie
Major: Anthropology
Hometown: Naperville, Illinois
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Winifred Creamer
Freshman Lindsey Komes has always had many interests. From her love of research, to her love of history, to her love of science, settling on one field for college was difficult, until she came across anthropology. For Lindsey, anthropology was the perfect culmination of all of her interests, and finally made choosing a major easy.
Lindsey has always been a hands-on person with an inquisitive mind, so the opportunity to do research seemed like the perfect fit. And with the support of her tremendous mentor, Research Rookies has turned out to be just that. Lindsey is currently working with two other students and Professor Creamer to catalogue artifacts, particularly pottery shards, from the San Marcos Pueblo that was excavated by Dr. Creamer in 1990. In this study, they are trying to determine the size of the San Marcos population by comparing the artifacts found at opposite ends of the excavation site. If the pieces of pottery from each location are determined to be the same, it means that the San Marcos Pueblo population was large enough at one time to occupy the whole site. But, if the artifacts from the two locations turn out to be different, then this suggests that a smaller population existed that moved from one location to the next throughout its time in the area.
Even though Lindsey will not have any results until next spring, she is looking forward to answering the question of population and presenting her findings with a poster at Undergraduate Research Day. And because she has had such a good experience thus far, Lindsey is planning on participating in Research Rookies next year, as well as continuing research throughout her undergraduate and graduate careers, and eventually teaching and conducting research of her own.
Lindsey on what being a Research Rookie means: “Being a Research Rookie means discovering new things. It means establishing lifelong relationships and having fun.”