NASA Officers
Find out what NASA Officer Duties are.
Learn more about the people serving as NASA officers! Click on their names below:
Officer Positions and Executive Committee Seats
Marcy Hessling, President
John Trainor, President-elect
Melinda Bernardo, Secretary-Treasurer
Jenny Chio, Newsletter Editor
Marc Hébert, e-Journal Editor
Open Position, Graduate Representative-at-Large
Keri Canada, Graduate Representative-at-Large
Open Position, Undergraduate Representative-at-Large
John Crandall, Undergraduate Representative-at-Large
Committee Positions
Keri Canada, Nominations Committee Chair
Open Position, Nominations Committee Member
Sheena Harris, Nominations Committee Member
Marcy Hessling, Program Committee Co-Chair
John Trainor, Program Committee Co-Chair
Naomi Parekh, Program Committee Member
Open Position, e-Journal Committee Member
Open Position, e-Journal Committee Member
Sheena Harris, Web Editor & Web Development Committee Chair
Open Position, Web Development Committee Member
Open Position, Web Development Committee Member
Open Position, Opportunities List Editor
Melinda Bernardo, Travel Award Committee Chair
Mel Marsh, Travel Award Committee Member
Keri Canada, Carrie Hunter-Tate Award Committee Chair
Marcy Hessling, President (2008-2009) and Program Committee Co-Chair (2008-2009)
Email: Marcy.hessling@gmail.com
Michigan State University
I am currently a doctoral student in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Michigan State University. My research interests include migration for education, and family migration networks in Benin, West Africa. I began my research in Benin as an undergraduate, and have continued with the topic as a graduate student.I received my BA in Anthropology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and my MA in Anthropology from Michigan State University. As an undergraduate I was a member of the McNair Scholars Program, and I remain involved with the McNair community.
Prior to serving as President of NASA, I was the Undergraduate Representative and organizer of the NASA/AAA Mentor Workshop for several years. I have also served as the Chair and Co-Chair of the Program Committee. I would like NASA to be a relevant and useful organization for students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Please feel free to contact me, or any of the NASA officers, with your thoughts, comments, or suggestions.
John Trainor, President-Elect (2008-2009) and Program Committee Co-Chair (2007-2009)
Email: jtraino2@mail.usf.edu
University of South FloridaEducation: Ph.D./MPH Applied Anthropology and Public Health Education, Univ. of South Florida (In progress), M.S. Biological Anthropology, Univ. of Oregon (2006), B.A. Latin American Studies, Univ. of Arizona (2003).
My research interests revolve around the area of applied nutrition- particularly the intersection of food policy and nutritional outcomes. The proposed area of research for my dissertation is the application of anthropology in a public health setting to create, implement and evaluate an obesity prevention program in a poor, urban school. My master's thesis examined local food policies and the role of activists in the creation and maintenance of farm to school programs. I began my NASA tenure last year as one of the graduate student representatives and a member of the program, travel award and Carrie Hunter Tate committees. This year I am assuming the role of president elect and co-chair of the Program Committee. I am looking forward to working with the NASA officers and members to advance the role of students in the AAA.
Melinda Bernardo, Secretary-Treasurer (2009-2011) and NASA Travel Award Committee Chair (2007-2009)
Email: bernar10@illinois.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Program for Jewish Culture and Society
Melinda is PhD student in anthropology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include the anthropology of Jews and Judaism, nationalism and belonging, medical technologies, and ethnography as representation. Her dissertation research will examine the intersection of bureaucracy and immigration in Israel.
Melinda is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of NASA. Prior to this, she served as Contributing Editor for NASA's monthly column in Anthropology News. Melinda has also served as the NASA Travel Award Committee Chair (2007-2009)and the Carrie Hunter Tate Award Committee Chair (2006-2007). She received her MA in anthropology from the New School of Social Research in New York City.
Jenny Chio, Newsletter Editor (2007-2009)
Email: jchio@berkeley.edu
University of California, BerkeleyI am a Ph.D. Candidate in socio-cultural anthropology at UC Berkeley. I received an MA in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a BA in Anthropology from Brown University. Currently, my research examines tourism and social change in rural, ethnic minority Chinese villages, and I am also working on an ethnographic film based on my fieldwork.
Marc Hébert, E-Journal Editor (2007-2009)
University of South FloridaEmail Marc with your comments.
John Crandall, Undergraduate Representative-at-Large (2008-2010)
Email: jjcranda@syr.edu
Syracuse UniversityI am the Undergraduate Representative (2nd Chair) from 2008-2010. I am currently a junior at Syracuse University and will be receiving a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology, with a minor in LGBT studies and a possible minor in forensics.
John is an undergraduate anthropology major with broad interests in bioarchaeology and cultural anthropology dealing with the body, as it is constructed, given symbolic meaning, and portrayed. By this, John means that the body, both before and after death, is highly symbolic and can stand in for ideologies and states. Examples of this kind of use of the body symbolically can be found throughout history, i.e. trophy heads, and in the present in the form of the display of victims of massacre or public execution. Think also about how certain bodies are associated with particular behaviors, identities and communities.
John is interested in entering a graduate program where he can combine his bioarchaeology interests with other interests involving the rhetoric of rights movements, the shaping of space by bodily performance, and the way bodies their shape, gender, etc. are engaged in religious ritual and politics. John's geographical interests are also range but mainly focus on the Caribbean and the Americas.
As undergraduate representative, John would like to help students become more engaged both in the AAA and in anthropology at large by assisting students who would like to present work and helping students further their careers. John would like to be accessible to students of all ages. As a non-traditional student with three jobs himself, John encourages all students to get involved, and explore topics that might be traditionally considered anthropology.
John is a supporter of innovate anthropology and would love to see more students from archaeology, physical anthropology and other disciplines such as sociology, women's studies, religion, biology, philosophy and history have a bigger presence at the conference. If you have any questions or ideas feel free to e-mail him or catch him at the annual AAA conference.
Keri Canada, Nominations Committee Chair (2007-2009), Carrie Hunter Tate Award Committee Chair (2007-2009), and Graduate Representative-at-Large (2008-2010)
Email: keri.canada@gmail.com
University of Nevada, RenoI received my BA (2004) and MA (2007) in anthropology from California State University, Fullerton and am currently a PhD candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno. My research is in both cultural and medical anthropology; the focus of my MA thesis was sexual risk-taking and health-seeking behavior in a local county population, and my dissertation research will be both a study of the decision-making processes surrounding aspects of reproductive health and an organizational ethnography. My research interests are broad, but tend of focus on social and cultural influences on sexual and reproductive health; in fact, my MA thesis was recently published as a book. I also teach anthropology part-time at Truckee Meadows Community College. I first became involved with NASA by attending the annual student/mentor workshop at the 2006 AAA meeting, and I became an officer during the following election cycle. I encourage any interested students to become involved -- NASA is a great way to become involved with AAA!
Email Naomi with your comments.
Sheena Harris, Web Editor & Web Development Committee Chair (2008-2010)
and Nominations Committee Member (2008-2010)
Email: smharri3@ncsu.edu
North Carolina State UniversityI am a graduate of North Carolina State University. I completed my Master's, with a concentration in Bioarchaeology in 2009. I also received my undergraduate degree in anthropology at NCSU in 2006. My master's research focused on sexual dimorphism in the tarsals and testing metric methods for sexing unknown skeletal remains. My research interests include bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, interpersonal violence in past populations, and craniofacial anomalies.
I spent the summer of 2009 at a field school/study abroad program in Thailand. I encourage anyone interested in bioarchaeology to obtain study abroad and fieldwork experience!
I am currently serving as the webmaster and web development chair for NASA. I also serve as Nominations Committee Member for NASA. I want to encourage anthropology students of all fields to join and participate in NASA, especially if they have experience with website construction and editing!
Mel Marsh, Travel Awards Committee (2008-2010)
University of North DakotaMelvin S. Marsh is a freelance researcher, editor, and writer based just outside of Atlanta Georgia. In 2007, Mel graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Master of Science degree in Space Studies, specializing in psychological stressors. He received his Bachelor of Science in Anthropology & Human Biology from Emory University in 2003. Currently, he is enrolled in a local community college in order to fill in the holes in his educational background and he hopes to apply for PhD programs for fall 2010. In order to fund his education, he works part time running his own consulting business and volunteers with the One Giant Leap Foundation and the Astrosociology Research Institute.
While Mel currently serves as a member of the Travel Awards Committee, he has previously served as NASA webmaster (2006-2008) and has served on the NASA Nominations Committee (2006-2008), the AAA web advisory panel (2007), and the NASA Web Development Committee (2004-2006). Outside of anthropology, he currently serves as part of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Astrosociology Working Group and AIAA Society & Aerospace Technology Technical Committee and is a former member of the AIAA Life Sciences Technical Committee (2006-2007).
More information about Mel can be found at http://www.melsmarsh.com .
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Last Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 3:35 PM PST
