Chair: Dr. Yangseung Jeong

Samantha (Sam) Robinson is a doctoral student in biological anthropology with specific research interests in trauma analysis, including the intersection of the expression of traumatic defects and taphonomic changes. Her broader research interests span both forensic anthropological and bioarchaeological contexts.

Sam earned her BS in Anthropology at Western Carolina University. During her time at WCU, she volunteered at the Forensic Osteological Research Station and gained experience in processing donated human remains. She then earned her M.A. from California State University, Chico, where she acted as a team member of the Chico Human Identification Lab and a co-manager of the CSUC Stable Isotope Preparation Laboratory. At Chico, she participated in numerous recovery scenarios and aided in the analysis of many forensic cases. Her thesis centered around investigating the survivability of fractographic features of blunt force trauma in cases of severe thermal alteration and examining whether fractographic features can be used to differentiate perimortem fractures that have been thermally altered from fractures of thermal origin.