**Hannah Morris was one of six scientists that made up the Advance Science Team on the Rising Star Expedition. Read more here**

From working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to digging at sites in diverse and sometimes remote locales – including Alaska, Mexico, and the southeastern US – Hannah Morris has covered a lot of ground early in her career. After graduating from the University of Georgia in 2007, she obtained her M.A. from Ohio State University, both in Anthropology. Now, she runs her own archaeological consulting company, Chena Consulting Services.

One of Hannah’s main research interests is paleoethnobotany-that is, the study of ancient plant use by people, sometimes referred to as archaeobotany. She’s particularly interested in the domestication of what archaeologists call the Eastern Agricultural Complex, which includes plant species such as sunflower, goosefoot, and little barley, all domesticated in the southeastern United States between 4,000-5,000 years ago.

Hannah has extensive survey and excavation experience (sometimes in quite challenging environments) but she has also devoted some of her time to teaching and outreach: in 2011, she assisted in the organization of a one-day workshop for middle school students called “Girls Explore Archaeology”.  We are sure her current activities are continuing to inspire!

Written by Suzie (@suzie_birch)