Environment and Society Lab Team

This page records our past and present Environment and Society Lab team. It includes students in the WVU Senior Anthropology Capstone course ANTH 488, as well as Independent Reseachers.

Project Coordinator and Editor 

Daniel Renfrew, Ph.D.

Bio: Environmental anthropologist and professor at West Virginia University. Dr. Renfrew has conducted research in Uruguay and the United States. He is interested in questions related to community responses to toxic exposures, environmental justice, environmental subjectivity, and the tensions between resource extraction and conservation.

Department webpage: https://soca.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-directory/daniel-renfrew 


Photo: Dr. Renfrew in Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, as part of the 2019 Amizade semester abroad program.

Spring 2023 Staff

Meet the Team!

This year, in lieu of a Capstone, our team consisted of two Senior Researchers; Amanda Mahany and Lauren Bowlin. Together, they created a composite of academic resources pertaining to the Anthropology of PFAS, and they collected PFAS-related media drawn from historic newspapers in the Ohio Valley. Additionally, they travelled to Parkersburg with Dr. Renfrew to interview local activists, as well as visit the original site of Dupont Manufactures. 


Amanda Mahany is a Senior Anthropology student from Bethesda, MD. Following graduation she will be pursuing a Masters degree in Social Work at University of Pennsylvania.  

Lauren Bowlin is a Senior Anthropology and Religious Studies student from Morgantown, WV. Following graduation, she will being work at Grave Creek Archaeological Mound as an SCA Museum Collections Intern. 

Spring 2022 Staff

Meet the Team!

This year we have three research groups consisting of six students each. They are dedicated to the following themes: Environmental Health and Justice; Corporate Strategies; and Science and Regulation

Capstone class at work, Spring 2022

Declan in brainstorming session with the Science and Regulation research group (photo by Savannah Milne)

Environmental Health and Justice

Jenna Ablak

India Bender

Olivia Berarducci

Seth Mullins

Evonni Tatum

Corporate Strategies

Lauren Bowlin

Brodie Healy

Mononita Khan

Wesley Nelson

Riley Phares

Katy Trent

Science and Regulation

Chloe den Uijl

Adia Kolb


Savannah Milne

Kailia Puaauli

Declan Revenew

Joanna Yutuc

Spring 2022 Staff