Kelly Kamnikar

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Kelly Kamnikar

Assistant Professor School of Global Integrative Studies University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Contact

Address
OLDH 816
Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
Phone
402-472-2411 On-campus 2-2411
Email
kkamnikar2@unl.edu
Website

Research

Forensic anthropology, biological distance, age estimation, human rights, skeletal biology, bioarchaeology, trauma

Recent Publications

Journal Articles

Kamnikar KR, Hefner JT, Monsalve T, Bernal Flores L. Craniometric variation in a regional sample from Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia: Implications for forensic work in the Americas. [Variación craneométrica en una muestra regional de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia: Consecuencias para el trabajo forense en las Américas]. Forensic Anthropology 2021; 5(3):199-210.

Dunn RR, Spiros MC, Kamnikar KR, Plemons AM, Hefner JT. Ancestry estimation in forensic anthropology: A review. WIREs Forensic Science 2020.

Zuckerman MK, Kamnikar KR, Herrmann NP, Franklin J. Applying the Index of Care to the Mississippian Period: A case study of treponemal disease, bodily impairment, and probable caregiving from the Holliston Mills Site, TN. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 2019; 29(5):843-853.

Kamnikar KR, Herrmann NP, Plemons AM. New approaches to juvenile age estimation in forensics: Application of transition analysis via the Shackelford et al method to a diverse modern subadult sample. Human Biology 2018; 90(1): 11-30.

Kamnikar KR, Plemons AM, Hefner JT. Intraobserver error in macromorphoscopic traits. Journal of Forensic Sciences 2018; 63:361-370.

Zuckerman MK, Kamnikar KR, Mathena SA. Recovering the Body Politic: Relational ethics in bioarchaeology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 2014; 24:513-522.

Book Chapter

Kamnikar KR, Plemons AM, Spiros MC, Hefner JT. Estimación de la ancestría utilizando características morfológicas. In: Quinto-Sánchez M, Gómez-Valdés J, eds. Avances en Antropología Forense. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; 2022.

Education

2022 Ph.D. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Biological Anthropology.
Title: Cranial Metric and Nonmetric Variation in Southeast Mexico and Guatemala: Implications for Population Affinity Assessment in the United States Chair: Joseph T Hefner

2015 M.A. Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS. Applied Anthropology.
Title: Investigating the utility of age-dependent cranial vault thickness as an aging method for juvenile skeletal remains on dry bone, radiographic and computed tomography scans. Chair: Nicholas P Herrmann

2008 B.S. cum laude University of North Dakota, Grand Forks ND. Forensic Science.
Academic adviser: Phoebe R Stubblefield

Courses, Fall 2025

  • ANTH 442/842: Human Variation
  • ANTH 484/884: Data Analytics in Anthropology