Dr Kristopher Smith
Former HSL Co-Director; HSL member 2021-2026. Kris was a Postdoctoral Scholar with the HSL from 2021-2024 and was HSL Co-Director from 2023-2026. With formal cross-training in anthropology, psychology, and epidemiology, Kris draws upon a diverse set of theories and methods to study how communities work together to respond to environmental and cultural change. He’s now an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University.
Dr Joon Hwang
HSL member: 2025-26. After finishing his PhD at Penn State in 2025, Joon spent his first post-PhD year affiliated with the HSL, collaborating with Anne. Joon’s research combines multilayered network analysis, spatial analysis, and field experiment to examine how market integration and economic inequality transform reciprocity and connectivity, and how these shifts influence patterns of risk-taking in the face of environmental uncertainty. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara.
Tigist Temesgen
HSL member: 2025-26. Tigist is a PhD student at Washington State University in Kris Smith’s and Ed Hagen’s labs. Tigist’s interests lie at the intersection of medical anthropology and evolutionary medicine, with a particular focus on leprosy, zoonotic diseases, gender, and tobacco use behavior in Ethiopia.
Dr Dithapelo Medupe
HSL member: 2024-25. Ditha graduated from Penn State with her PhD in Anthropology in 2025. She is interested in the effects of ecology on culture and health and the effects of culture on health, especially with the shift to market integration and intensive agriculture. Today Ditha is a Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Pennsylvania working on Public Health Implementation Science with a focus on Botswana.
Johanna Hope Guin
HSL member: 2023-24. Hope graduated from WSU with a BA in Human Biology from Washington State University in 2023. After graduating, Hope collaborated with Anne on research related to climate change adaptation and remittances. More recently, Hope has been doing research at Dermatology Specialists of Spokane, working on new treatments for dermatological diseases, and she’s applying to grad school to pursue her Masters in Teaching.
Eric Hubbard
HSL member: 2020-22. Eric completed his MA in Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University in 2022. While at WSU, Eric studied how non-kin alloparents may benefit children, expanding his skillset in data wrangling and analysis. Eric is now Research Director at Nupoint Marketing.
Aracely Mendoza
HSL member: 2018-2020. Aracely graduated from Washington State University and the McNair Scholars Program with a degree in Anthropology and Digital Technology & Culture in 2020. While at WSU, she studied how Latinx identities are negotiated in Washington state and Virginia. She is now an Educational Planner at Wenatchee Valley College.