Christina is a trained paleoethnobotanist researching ancient agricultural practices in eastern North America. Before coming to WashU for graduate school, she graduated with her B.A. from the University of Cincinnati, then spent some time working in public archaeology and CRM, all of which have shaped her approach to her work. Her M.A. was completed in 2024 at WashU. For her dissertation, Christina is conducting growth experiments, paleoethnobotanical analyses, and isotopic research with the lost crops of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. This work is focusing on the region surrounding Cahokia, eastern North America’s first Indigenous city. Christina is interested in the effects, if any, that a changing climate may have had on the agricultural practices of the city’s farmers. She hopes that, while shedding light on the past, this work will also identify agricultural alternatives for the present to mitigate the effects of our own changing climate upon our food systems.