Education

BA, Evolutionary Anthropology, Minor Museum Studies, University of New Mexico, 2022

Certificate in Honors Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts, UNM Honors College

MA Museology, University of Washington, 2027

Biography

Mitch is a graduate student at the University of Washington pursing his M.A. in Museology. Born and raised in a southwestern suburb of Chicago, he spent two years volunteering as a docent at the Field Museum of Natural History. This experience, among many others, led Mitch to further pursue museum evaluation, education, and interpretation at UW. Right now, outside of coursework, he is an employee of the Wilson-Mantilla Paleontology lab. At work, he trains new lab members in screen-washing and sorting fossiliferous sediment from the Hell Creek formation in Montana. This hands-on experience uniquely positions Mitch between the visitor-facing and the inward-facing (collections) side of museums. Mitch envisions a future where science literacy reaches an all-time high through effective museum interpretation. He wants to make the world a better place by spreading the good word of evolution and science.

Areas of Interest

Interpretation

Evaluation

Natural history

Projects, Publications and Presentations

Presentation: “Before We Were Us: Explaining Change Over Time to Anyone,” at American Association of Biological Anthropologists 2024 (AABA), (part of workshop “Up Goer Five: Communicating Biological Anthropology Using English’s Ten Hundred Most Common Words”)

Poster: “Why is excess body weight associated with greater bone strength?” UNM Anthropology Honors Thesis, AABA 2023