N V Passalacqua
Biographic Data
| ID | 42873 |
|---|---|
| NAME | N V Passalacqua |
| GIVEN NAMES | N V |
| FAMILY NAME | Passalacqua |
| SIGNATURE | PASSALACQUA N V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Carolina University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1634-3844 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
A Review of Research Aims for Historical Anatomical Skeletal Collections in the United States
Characteristics of Vertebral Body Augmentation in Human Skeletal Remains
Vertebral body compression fractures are extremely common in adults in the United States, particularly postmenopausal women. Vertebral body compression fractures are associated with increased mortality and morbidity and often require medical intervention. Vertebral augmentations such as percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are routinely used to treat vertebral body compression fractures. Here we present two unrelated case studies of willed…
Origins of Forensic Anthropology in the United States
Traditional histories of forensic anthropology focus on key figures, events, and/or publications within a larger narrative of disciplinary formation and expansion. These histories typically highlight individuals such as Thomas Dwight or institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. This project represents an interdisciplinary collaboration with the goal of shedding new light onto the origins of forensic an…
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Race in the Criminal Justice System with Respect to Forensic Science Decision Making
Instances of racial disparities are well documented in the United States’ criminal justice system. This study reviewed the literature and conducted quantitative analyses on the role of race in forensic decision making among practitioners and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system. We hypothesized that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals will be significantly more likely to be associated with adverse outcomes than…
Maceration Techniques for Human Fetal and Perinatal Bone
Forensic anthropologists working with cases that vary in stages of decomposition are often required to process and macerate remains to complete a forensic analysis. Maceration techniques vary between laboratories, and procedures to facilitate maceration of fetal and perinatal remains are lacking in the literature. This descriptive case study evaluates the use of several maceration techniques for fetal and perinatal remains (n = 2), including cold…
Response to Goldstein et al. (2022) Humanitarian Action in Academic Institutions
The importance of professional organizations as disciplinary leaders and the need for meaningful ethical codes in anthropology
Steven A. Symes
Steven A. Symes is primarily known for his scholarly work on skeletal trauma analysis and for his applied casework and frequent courtroom appearances providing forensic anthropology testimony. However, many may not know that throughout his career Steve has also been a proponent of photography and microscopy. This biography serves to introduce some and enlighten others as to how Steve ended up in forensic anthropology, highlighting aspects of Stev…
The Value of Forensic Anthropology in Undergraduate Anthropology Programs
Anecdotally, it has been suggested that undergraduate anthropology students are more interested in forensic anthropology than any other specialty but that forensic anthropologists are less desired as colleagues in academia due to the nature of their work. The goal of this project was to examine two related questions: Does having a forensic anthropologist, or an undergraduate concentration in forensic anthropology, increase the number of majors in…
Salaries in Forensic Anthropology and Academic Anthropology
This project examined the salaries of forensic anthropologists in the United States. Additionally, the salaries of forensic anthropologists employed in academia were compared to those of other academic anthropologists. The goal of this project was to develop baseline data in terms of salaries for forensic anthropologists while also examining various factors that may affect forensic anthropology salaries. Salary information is important because sa…
Education and Training in Forensic Anthropology
The qualifications for a discipline are composed of the education and/or training requirements considered necessary to provide individuals with adequate knowledge to perform discipline-related tasks, including certification or licensing (Passalacqua & Pilloud 2018). Currently there are few available guidelines and no standards for the qualifications of a forensic anthropologist. To examine the qualifications of current practicing forensic anthrop…
American Board of Forensic Anthropology's Certification Program
Certification through the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (ABFA) provides forensic anthropologists with accredited validation of the highest level of qualifications (including education and training) and professionalism in the discipline, through rigorous vetting of an applicant's casework, knowledge, and skill. It encourages adherence to best practice methodological and ethical standards and provides a system of recognition of qualified …
Why Are There So Many Women in Forensic Anthropology
There is broad discussion of the higher numbers of women in the forensic sciences, particularly when compared to other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In this discussion, we focus on forensic anthropology. We begin with an historical overview of the role of women in the discipline; data are then provided that outline the numbers of women scholars and practitioners over time. We then explore the different roles of men and…
Exploring diet and status in the Medieval and Modern periods of Asturias, Spain, using stable isotopes from bone collagen
Missing Data Imputation Using Morphoscopic Traits and Their Performance in the Estimation of Ancestry
Missing data are an inherent problem in biological anthropology for both reference data sets and individual cases. The goal of data imputation for forensic anthropological applications is to accurately estimate missing values by using other, observed values. To quantify the accuracy of macromorphoscopic data in conditions with slight (10%), moderate (25%), and severe (50%, 75%, and 90%) amounts of missing data, we selected four data-imputation te…
Age Estimation
Individual Skeletal Variation
Personal Identification
Ancestry Estimation
Examination Methods
Medicolegal Significance
Osteology and Odontology
Other Issues in Modern Forensic Anthropology and Final Case Study
Forensic Archaeology and Scene Processing
Sex Estimation
Exploring diet and status in the Medieval and Modern periods of Asturias, Spain, using stable isotopes from bone collagen
The importance of professional organizations as disciplinary leaders and the need for meaningful ethical codes in anthropology
Education and Training in Forensic Anthropology
The qualifications for a discipline are composed of the education and/or training requirements considered necessary to provide individuals with adequate knowledge to perform discipline-related tasks, including certification or licensing (Passalacqua & Pilloud 2018). Currently there are few available guidelines and no standards for the qualifications of a forensic anthropologist. To examine the qualifications of current practicing forensic anthrop…
The Value of Forensic Anthropology in Undergraduate Anthropology Programs
Anecdotally, it has been suggested that undergraduate anthropology students are more interested in forensic anthropology than any other specialty but that forensic anthropologists are less desired as colleagues in academia due to the nature of their work. The goal of this project was to examine two related questions: Does having a forensic anthropologist, or an undergraduate concentration in forensic anthropology, increase the number of majors in…
Salaries in Forensic Anthropology and Academic Anthropology
This project examined the salaries of forensic anthropologists in the United States. Additionally, the salaries of forensic anthropologists employed in academia were compared to those of other academic anthropologists. The goal of this project was to develop baseline data in terms of salaries for forensic anthropologists while also examining various factors that may affect forensic anthropology salaries. Salary information is important because sa…
Are careers in biological anthropology sustainable
Sex determination of human skeletal populations using latent profile analysis
Accurately estimating biological sex from the human skeleton can be especially difficult for fragmentary or incomplete remains often encountered in bioarchaeological contexts. Where typical anatomically dimorphic skeletal regions are incomplete or absent, observers often take their best guess to classify biological sex. Latent profile analysis (LPA) is a mixture modeling technique which uses observed continuous data to estimate unobserved categor…
American Board of Forensic Anthropology's Certification Program
Certification through the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (ABFA) provides forensic anthropologists with accredited validation of the highest level of qualifications (including education and training) and professionalism in the discipline, through rigorous vetting of an applicant's casework, knowledge, and skill. It encourages adherence to best practice methodological and ethical standards and provides a system of recognition of qualified …
Origins of Forensic Anthropology in the United States
Traditional histories of forensic anthropology focus on key figures, events, and/or publications within a larger narrative of disciplinary formation and expansion. These histories typically highlight individuals such as Thomas Dwight or institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. This project represents an interdisciplinary collaboration with the goal of shedding new light onto the origins of forensic an…
Why Are There So Many Women in Forensic Anthropology
There is broad discussion of the higher numbers of women in the forensic sciences, particularly when compared to other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In this discussion, we focus on forensic anthropology. We begin with an historical overview of the role of women in the discipline; data are then provided that outline the numbers of women scholars and practitioners over time. We then explore the different roles of men and…
Missing Data Imputation Using Morphoscopic Traits and Their Performance in the Estimation of Ancestry
Missing data are an inherent problem in biological anthropology for both reference data sets and individual cases. The goal of data imputation for forensic anthropological applications is to accurately estimate missing values by using other, observed values. To quantify the accuracy of macromorphoscopic data in conditions with slight (10%), moderate (25%), and severe (50%, 75%, and 90%) amounts of missing data, we selected four data-imputation te…
Forensic Anthropology
Welcome to Forensic Anthropology, the only journal devoted to the advancement of the science and professional development of the fields of forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology. Forensic Anthropology is an inclusive venue created to foster professional discussions about research, policy, and the application of forensic anthropology globally. Issues will (at least initially) be published quarterly and available in electronic and print for…
Experiences in Applying to and Attending Biological Anthropology Programs Focused on Human Skeletal Biology
Because of the lack of forensic anthropology degree-granting programs, forensic anthropologists have traditionally attended programs that grant general anthropology degrees while performing human skeletal biology (HSB) research. In order to examine potential changes in competition for HSB graduate programs and to generally inform the community of trends and the current state of HSB graduate programs, the authors generated an electronic survey, di…
Subadult Age-at-Death Estimation From the Human Calcaneus
The estimation of age from subadult skeletal remains relies on the measurement of bones, which when unavailable or damaged hampers the ability to generate a reliable age estimate. The goal of this project was to demonstrate two methods for estimating age at death from the developing human calcaneus. These methods are generated from a sample of 32 European American and African American males and females with ages ranging from 1 to 19 years from th…
Sex determination of human skeletal populations using latent profile analysis
Accurately estimating biological sex from the human skeleton can be especially difficult for fragmentary or incomplete remains often encountered in bioarchaeological contexts. Where typical anatomically dimorphic skeletal regions are incomplete or absent, observers often take their best guess to classify biological sex. Latent profile analysis (LPA) is a mixture modeling technique which uses observed continuous data to estimate unobserved categor…
Subadult Age-at-Death Estimation From the Human Calcaneus
The estimation of age from subadult skeletal remains relies on the measurement of bones, which when unavailable or damaged hampers the ability to generate a reliable age estimate. The goal of this project was to demonstrate two methods for estimating age at death from the developing human calcaneus. These methods are generated from a sample of 32 European American and African American males and females with ages ranging from 1 to 19 years from th…
Intersite Analysis of Victims of Extra- and Judicial Execution in Civil War Spain
More than 150,000 executions took place during and soon following the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)-many without any judicial proceedings and mostly of noncombatants. As a result of disinterested postwar governments, nongovernmental organizations-representing families of victims-have insisted on finding the graves and exhuming the dead for identification and repatriation. This study examines skeletal gunshot trauma patterns from three extrajudici…
Age Estimation
Individual Skeletal Variation
Personal Identification
Ancestry Estimation
Examination Methods
Medicolegal Significance
Osteology and Odontology
Other Issues in Modern Forensic Anthropology and Final Case Study
Forensic Archaeology and Scene Processing
Sex Estimation
Processing and Preparing Remains
Stature Estimation
Forensic Taphonomy
Analysis of Skeletal Trauma
Looking Backward and Thinking Forward
Reporting and Testifying in Forensic Anthropology
Introduction to Forensic Anthropology
Are careers in biological anthropology sustainable
Forensic Anthropology
Welcome to Forensic Anthropology, the only journal devoted to the advancement of the science and professional development of the fields of forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology. Forensic Anthropology is an inclusive venue created to foster professional discussions about research, policy, and the application of forensic anthropology globally. Issues will (at least initially) be published quarterly and available in electronic and print for…
Experiences in Applying to and Attending Biological Anthropology Programs Focused on Human Skeletal Biology
Because of the lack of forensic anthropology degree-granting programs, forensic anthropologists have traditionally attended programs that grant general anthropology degrees while performing human skeletal biology (HSB) research. In order to examine potential changes in competition for HSB graduate programs and to generally inform the community of trends and the current state of HSB graduate programs, the authors generated an electronic survey, di…
Exploring diet and status in the Medieval and Modern periods of Asturias, Spain, using stable isotopes from bone collagen
Missing Data Imputation Using Morphoscopic Traits and Their Performance in the Estimation of Ancestry
Missing data are an inherent problem in biological anthropology for both reference data sets and individual cases. The goal of data imputation for forensic anthropological applications is to accurately estimate missing values by using other, observed values. To quantify the accuracy of macromorphoscopic data in conditions with slight (10%), moderate (25%), and severe (50%, 75%, and 90%) amounts of missing data, we selected four data-imputation te…
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (26 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Engineering (15 works) · Forensic anthropology (15 works) · History (13 works) · Anthropology (12 works) · Archaeology (12 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Forensic and Genetic Research (12 works) · Medicine (12 works)