Students in MS in Forensic Anthropology program are required to complete a graduate level research project that culminates into a full-length thesis.
The body of the thesis document must be a minimum of 65 double-spaced pages in length that includes an extensive literature review and data analysis. The process of conducting the research projects and writing a thesis requires approximately 8-12 months to complete.
Resources for student research projects include access to our Outdoor Research Facility and Anatomical Sciences Laboratory, faculty in the department of Radiology, and affiliated faculty at University of Tennessee and Skeletal Collections at other Universities and Museums.
Thesis Projects from Past and Current Students:
- Decomposition in water: the effect of climate on the rate of decay.
- Time line of decomposition of porcine bone marrow.
- Craniometric and nonmetric assessment of skulls of Hispanic decent.
- Application of anthropological aging methods to three dimensional reconstructions of clinical CT-scans of the adult pelvis.
- Macroscopic evidence of healing in Civil War specimens.
- Detection of cadaveric remains by thermal imaging cameras.
- Taphonomy and decomposition in a Massachusetts microenvironment.
- Observance of rodent activity to determine post-mortem interval.
- A study of exsanguination’s effect on the rate of decomposition of Sus scrofa in the
- Northeastern United States.
- Collagen degradation in cadaveric bone as a function of time.
- The reproducibility of incomplete skulls using FreeForm software.
- Aquatic decomposition: an examination of factors surrounding porcine carcass decomposition in fresh water.
- Use of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with x-rays to positively identify individuals using frontal sinus.
- Morphometric analysis of the adult human mastoid process as a sexually dimorphic trait.
- Examination of the effects of obesity on weight-bearing extremities: ct scan analysis and comparison of modern Caucasian and African-American male populations.
- Normal and taphonomic arthropod population survey in Holliston, Massachusetts.
- Scavenging effects and scattering patterns on pig carcasses in Eastern Massachusetts.
- Decomposition sequence in the forest environment of the Pacific Northwest.
- A qualitative comparison of single and mass burial decomposition.
- The influence of sharp-force thoracic trauma on the rate and pattern of decomposition.
- Reburial of mass graves: a study of the resulting disturbed remains.
- Effects of pregnancy on the morphology of the femur.
