EDUCATION

2007                            Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, University of Oregon
Dissertation Title: Population Dynamics, Growth and Development in Chalcolithic Sites of the Deccan Plateau, India

Chair: John Lukacs

2000                            M.S. in Biological Anthropology, University of Oregon
Master's Paper: Dental Histology and Age Estimation in Mesolithic India

Advisor: John Lukacs

1998                            B.S. in Anthropology with honors, University of Oregon
Honor’s Thesis: Discrete Traits as a Measure of Biological Distance In Gujarat, India
 

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2007-present                Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

2008-present                Assistant Professor

Department of Global Studies, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

2006-2007                   Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

2004-2006                   Instructor

Social Science, Lane Community College, Eugene, OR

2004-2005                   Barnett Teaching Fellow

Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

2001-2006                   Graduate Teaching Fellow

Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)

FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION

Bioarchaeology, human skeletal biology, human growth and development, paleodemography, South Asia

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT OR FORTHCOMING (IN PRESS)

Robbins G. (in press) Bioarchaeology and climate change: a view from Indian prehistory. University Press Florida in the book series: Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, Clark Larsen (series editor). 

Robbins G., M. Irish, K. Gray, R. Danielson. (in press) Bone Histology and Identification of a Starvation Diet. In: The Archaeology of the Donner Party Campsite, eds. Dixon, K., J. Schablitsky, and S. Novak, eds. University of Nebraska Press. 

Robbins G. (in press) Dental Histology and Paleodemography. In: Holocene Foragers of North India: Bioarchaeology of Mesolithic Damdama, Lukacs, J.R. and J.N. Pal, eds. John and Erica Hedges Ltd., U.K.: BAR International Series.

Dixon K., S. Novak, G. Robbins, J. Schablitsky, R. Scott , and G. Tasa. (forthcoming July, 2010) Archaeology of the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp. American Antiquity. 

Robbins, G., V. Mushrif, V.N. Misra, R.K. Mohanty, V.S. Shinde, K.M. Gray, and M.D. Schug (2009) Ancient skeletal evidence for Leprosy in India (2000 B.C.). Plos One e5669. 

Seven months after publication (on Nov 30, 2009), this paper had 3964 online views and 392 downloads. It was viewed 1500 times the first week after publication and has been viewed an average of about 500 times a month since that time (http://www.plosone.org/article/metrics/

info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005669;jsessionid=90633F993A9037F7812CE41A91CD594B#usage).

Robbins G. (2008) Fertility and Infertility. In: Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Smith, B., ed. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.  

Robbins G. (2008) Demography- an overview. In: Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Smith, B., ed. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.  

Robbins G., V. Mushrif, V.N. Misra, R.K. Mohanty, and V.S. Shinde (2007) Adult skeletal material from Balathal: A full report and inventory. Man and Environment XXXII(2: December):1-26. 

 Robbins G., V. Mushrif, V.N. Misra, R.K. Mohanty, and V.S. Shinde (2006) Biographies of the Skeleton: Pathological Patterns at Balathal. Man and Environment XXXI(2: December):150-165.  

Robbins G., V.D. Misra, J.N. Pal, and M.C. Gupta (2004) Mesolithic Damdama: Dental Histology and Age Estimation. India: Allahabad University Press. OCLC: 60453955.  

PUBLICATIONS UNDERGOING REVIEW OR IN PREPARATION

Robbins G., P. Sciulli, and S. Blatt (in revision) Estimating Body Mass in Subadult Human Skeletons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Robbins, G. (in revision) Saving the babies and the bathwater: expanding available methods for fertility-centered demography. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

Cowgill L. and G. Robbins (in prep) Body Mass in the Pleistocene: Subadult Hominin Variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

POPULAR MEDIA PRESENTATIONS OF MY RESEARCH

May 27, 2009 Work on ancient leprosy in India featured in Science News, Science Daily, New York Times, MSNBC news, and over 250 other news outlets worldwide.

July, 2007 NOVA: Science Now: profile of work on Donner party cannibalism. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/04.html

April 24, 2006 The New Yorker Magazine “What Really Happened at Alder Creek?” by Dana Goodyear

March, 2006 The History Channel: “Cannibals: Secrets Revealed”

March 12, 2001 India Today “The Ahars: Piecing the Ahar Puzzle” by Rohit Parihar

PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS AND PRESENTATIONS

Robbins G. (2010) Human versus non-human: the burned, fragmentary osseous assemblage from the Donner party campsite. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 141 S50:206.

Robbins G. and L. Cowgill (2009) Bayesian Approaches to Measuring Body Mass in Subadults from Kulubnarti, Grasshopper Pueblo, and Inamgaon. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138 S48:314.

Robbins G. (2008) Resolving Stressful Relationships in Prehistory: macroscopic and histological indicators of growth disruption in subadult long bones. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135 S46:181.

Robbins G. (2007) Cortical Bone Ontogeny: Activity, Nutritional Status, and Archaeology. 32^nd Annual Meeting of the Human Biology Association, Philadelphia.

Robbins G. (2007) Saving the Babies from the Bathwater: a new method for paleodemography in subadult samples. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132 S44:201.

Robbins G. and J.R. Lukacs (2006) Adaptive Diversity, Growth and Development in Chalcolithic India. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 129 S42:154.

Robbins G. and M. Hanks (2006) Profile of a Starvation Diet: Bone Histology and Species Identification of Calcined Food Refuse at a Small Donner Party Campsite. 39^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Bakersfield.

GRANTS AND RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

2004 American Institute of Indian Studies, Junior Research Dissertation Fellowship

·                Dissertation research on human growth and development in India

2003 George Franklin Dales Scholarship

·                Research on histological age estimation for adults from Inamgaon

2002 UO Department of Anthropology Travel Grant

2001 Fulbright IIE Student Fellowship

2000 Graduate Student Research Award, Graduate School, University of Oregon

·                Dental histology section preparation technique (UT, Knoxville)

2000 Research Assistantship, Dr. John Lukacs, University of Oregon

·                Research on cortical bone maintenance and LHPC in India

ACADEMIC AND TEACHING HONORS

William C. Strickland Outstanding Young Faculty Award, Appalachian State University College of Arts and Sciences (nominee), 2009

Graduate Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2001-2006

Homer Barnett Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2004-2005

·                Departmental teaching award for doctoral candidates

Comprehensive Exams Passed with Distinction, 2004

·                Exams in the subjects of Human Evolutionary Anatomy and South Asian Bioarchaeology

Cressman Prize, U of O Department of Anthropology, 2003 

·                Annual award for graduate student research paper of publishable quality

Graduate Teaching Fellowship, U of O Department of General Science, 1998-2000.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2006-present Appalachian State University

·         Our Primate Heritage (Gen ed- lower division)

·         Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Majors- lower division)

·         Human Biological Variation (Majors- upper division)

·         Human Evolution (Majors- upper division)

·         Human Osteology (Majors- upper division)

·         Bioarchaeology (Majors- upper division)

·         Paleoanthropology of South Asia (Majors- upper division)

·         Anthropology of Human Reproduction (occasional course)

·         Forensic Taphonomy (taught as independent study and upper division seminar)

 2004-2005 University of Oregon—courses taught as an Instructor

·         Human Growth and Development

·         Bioarchaeology

2000-2006  University of Oregon—courses taught as a Teaching Assistant

·         Assistant Director of Archaeological Field School in Tutuila, American Samoa (University of Oregon-American Samoa Community College Course)

·         Introduction to Biological Anthropology (J. Josh Snodgrass)

·         Monkeys and Apes (Joanna Lambert)

·         Introduction to Human Sexuality (Frances White)

·         Human Evolution (John Lukacs)

·         Human Osteology (Steven Frost)

·         Primate Feeding and Nutrition (Joanna Lambert)

·         People of India (John Lukacs; Lamia Karim)

·         Pacific Island Archaeology (Bill Ayres)

SERVICE

To the Discipline

Peer review panel member

• 2010 – National Science Foundation 2010 Graduate Research Fellowship Program Panel member (to be held March 2-4 in Washington DC)

Peer reviews

• 2005 – present: National Science Foundation, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Pearson.

Guest Lectures

• January 25, 2010 – UNC Chapel Hill lecture for ‘Women in Archaeology’ speaker series (Chapel Hill, NC)
• March 12, 2008 – McMaster University Department of Anthropology (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

At Appalachian State University

Committee Work (University-wide)

• 2009 – 2012: Science Inquiry Faculty Curriculum Committee
• 2007 – 2009: Darwin Day Speaker Series Organizing Committee
• 2006 – 2008: International Education Program: South Asia Committee
• 2007 – 2008: Core Curriculum Committee
• 2006 – present: Dewel-CAS Microscopy Facility Advisory Committee

Committee Work (Department of Anthropology)

• 2009: Anthropology Department Biological Anthropology Faculty Search Committee
• 2009: Department five-year plan committee
• 2007 - 2009: Anthropology Department Personnel Committee
• 2007-2008: Developed and Implemented new Biological Anthropology Curriculum
• 2007-2008: Developed and Implemented new Biological Anthropology Concentration
• 2007: Anthropology Department Cultural Anthropology Faculty Search Committee
• 2006 – present: Anthropology Department Curriculum Committee

Conferences Attended as part of Service Commitment at ASU

• November, 2008: Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference entitled: Engaging Science, Advancing Learning: General Education, Majors, and the New Global Century.
• April, 2007: NC State Undergraduate Education Assessment Conference.

In the Community (Boone, NC)

• Spring, 2009: Mountain Pathways Evolution Short Course
• Fall, 2009: Misconceptions of Evolutionary Theory (Public Library Event)
• Summer, 2007: Hartley Cemetery Project: Osteological identifications of exhumations and report on the site of the new Watauga County High School, NC.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

American Anthropological Association

American Association of Physical Anthropologists

Paleopathology Association

Dental Anthropology Association

Human Biology Association

Sigma Xi (associate member)

ADVISING AND MENTORING: STUDENTS AND ALUMNI

Anna Barefoot

Jesse Berkovitz

Elizabeth Brandt- M.S. Texas State, San Marcos, currently at JPAC

Meagan Brown

Ryne Danielson (1 publication)

Sean Durkee

Lori Epstein

Rebecca Gillis

Brittany Glarrow

Kelsey Gray (2 publications)

Ashley Heath

Matt Irish (1 publication) - graduate student at University College, London 

Sarah Kindschuh- M.S. Central Florida University; PhD student Binghamton

Kaitlyn Kluge

Corbin Linebarrier

Jamie Minns- graduate student at Michigan State University, East Lansing

Kate Watnee