About

Katrina wearing purple dress and blue head scarf. Mountains in the background.
 

Katrina Yezzi-Woodley is a National Science Foundation 2022 SBE Postdoctoral Research fellow . Katrina earned her Ph.D in biological anthropology at the University of Minnesota. She is interested in how meat-eating impacted human behavioral evolution. Her research focuses on how early humans were breaking bones for marrow, especially in a landscape where they competed with threatening, large-bodied carnivores for food resources. Katrina uses 3D modeling, differential geometry, and machine learning to determine how animal bones were broken at archaeological sites and how to put them back together again.

Katrina is also a co-founder of the international research consortium Anthropological and Mathematical Analysis of Archaeological and Zooarchaeological Evidence (AMAAZE) that brings together mathematicians, computer scientists, and anthropologists to apply advance mathematics, machine learning, and 3D modeling to address anthropological questions.

Katrina is also a co-founder and the president and executive director for Science and Social Studies Adventures (SASSAk12), a non-profit organization that connects diverse K-12 students and collegiate researchers to engage in community-based education and research. The vision of SASSAk12 is a world where youth are excited and interested in socially engaged critical thinking and research, recognizing their ability to produce valuable knowledge, and feeling individual purpose and community connection.

Katrina’s CV

  • Colorized elk bone fragment

    Research

    My approach to research is highly collaborative and multidisciplinary. I am committed to replicability and inclusion in research and am drawn to digital approaches for exploring anthropological questions. I am proud to be one of the co-founders of AMAAZE and to have the privilege of working with AMAAZING researchers!

  • Child trying to put 3D printed pieces of a fragmented elk together.

    Community Engagement

    Education at all levels is extremely important to me. Some of the most fulfilling work I do is in collaboration with local K-12 educators through the non-profit I co-founded called Science and Social Studies Adventures (SASSAk12). SASSAk12 connects researchers at the collegiate level, particularly graduate students and advanced undergraduate students, with K-12 students and educators to engage in learning and research together.

  • Picture of Katrina with her spouse and two children.

    Life Outside Work

    I am the mother of two absolutely astounding women who I could not be more proud of. I also share a whole lot of love and joy with my spouse, mother, and brother. Though my grandparents and father are no longer with us physically, thoughts of them lift my heart and give me strength. Then there are the extended family, my friends, my colleagues, and the kitties. I am truly fortunate. Activities I enjoy include yoga, hiking, and open water swimming.