Heather will be starting her second year of the Anthropology/ Archaeology Ph.D. program at UW-Madison. Her research interests include the development of early writing and recording systems and their presence in the archaeological record, as well as the greater social and economic implications of writing.  As an undergraduate, Heather studied Sanskrit and hopes to continue that course in the future.  Heather has studied first year Hindi at the UW and is a FLAS fellowship recipient for Urdu for the upcoming school year.

Heather's summer project includes replicating an Asokan rock edict in an experimental archaeology classroom. The project involves using authentically handmade metal tools to carve the Brahmi inscription, in an effort to understand the many technologies which were used to create an inscribed text in early historic South Asia.