INTRODUCING THE AIA-NYS SCHOLARS RECIPIENTS - COHORT 5 (2023-2024)

ALLYSON BLANCK

My name is Allyson Blanck, and I am currently a first year PhD student at ISAW. My research focuses on topics in medical history such as wound care and surgery. The goal of my graduate work is to develop a theoretical bridge between literary analysis of medicine and paleopathological analysis of skeletal remains. I have recently worked at the Athenian Agora, and I hope to continue working with human and animal bone in field and lab contexts. I look forward to participating in the AIA-NYS scholars’ program this year and representing a disabled perspective from the upcoming generation of archeologists.

RILEY DOMINIANNI

Riley Dominianni is a senior at Fordham University double majoring in history and anthropology. Passionate about historical preservation and museum work, she is a seasonal research assistant at the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation’s American Family Immigration History Center. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school and pursue a career in historical archaeology.

MANOLIS MAVROMATIS

My name is Manolis Mavromatis, I am 31 years old, and I was born and raised in Athens. Understanding cultures in antiquity has always been my passion which is why I applied to the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU, where I am currently in my first year of my PhD. In my studies, I am planning on focusing on the Bronze Age period in the Mediterranean and specifically in Crete and in the broader Aegean. My areas of interest include the Minoan Civilization, and digital humanities and their applications to the examination of language development and urbanization. I have previously participated in excavations at the Athenian Agora, and at Lyktos in Greece. My academic plans for the future are mainly completing my studies and pursuing my goal of further research on the areas I am interested in, as well as teaching at University level.

MICHAEL McCORRY

Michael McCorry is a first year MA student at Bard Graduate Center, he earned his two-subject moderatorship in Ancient History & Archaeology and Italian at the Honors College of Trinity College Dublin. After graduating he earned post-baccalaureate certificates in Ancient Greek and Latin from Rutgers University while working as a field and lab technician at Hunter Research. His dig experience ranges from Etruscan to 19th century America. His internship as a registrar for the New Jersey State Museum’s Archaeology and Ethnography Department shaped his current focus on museology. Through his studies at BGC he hopes to educate the public using the variety and inclusivity of the material culture on display at the cultural centers of New York’s museums.

ELANA NEHER

My name is Elana Neher and I am a first-year MA student at Bard Graduate Center. My research interests include archaeological museum practice and the material culture of the Indigenous Americas. Through coursework at BGC, I have become interested in the archaeology of New York City. I most recently worked at Monticello in Charlottesville, VA as a Museum Technician and at Ellis Island as a Visitor Services Coordinator. Previously, I completed my BA at Johns Hopkins University in Archaeology and East Asian Studies. I excavated with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Colorado and at Legio in the Jezreel Valley.

ALEX PREZEAU

Alex Prezeau is a senior studying Anthropology and Psychology at Barnard College, with a focus on experimental and queer archaeologies. She has excavated with the Picuris Pueblo Project, working to document the Ancestral Picuris’ field system, and is a recipient of the Nan Rothschild Award for Excellence in Archaeology. When not carrying out her duties as president of Barnard’s Gotham League of Archaeology Majors (lovingly known as GLAM), Alex enjoys recreating historical recipes, performing in Shakespearean plays, and bothering her friends about her latest archaeological fun fact. She hopes to pursue fieldwork in Latin America, and a PhD in Archaeology.