Meet the Team

Directors

Molly Cannon | Co-Director

Molly Boeka Cannon is an interdisciplinary community engaged scholar who integrates anthropology, archaeology, geography, and archival studies to examine how individuals construct and sustain relationships with their communities and environments. Her work centers on cultural heritage and material culture to develop culturally informed, community driven, and sustainable programs that benefit the public. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Nebraska, an MA in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming, and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Nebraska.

Water heritage is our connection to the past through one of our most basic needs.

Anna Cohen | Co-Director

Anna Cohen is an archaeologist with interests in human-landscape relationships. Questions that guide her research are: How do humans modify landscapes, how are humans shaped by landscapes, and how are these human-landscape relationships visible in the archaeological record? Anna focuses on precontact communities in Latin America and Utah. She has a PhD and MA in Anthropology from the University of Washington, an MA from the University of Chicago, and a BA from McGill University.

Water heritage is a source of inspiration for a sustainable future.

Research Assistants

2026 | Sascha Baldauf (BA Anthropology 2025)

Sascha Baldauf’s research explores peoples attachment to water and maritime heritage. She is interested in learning about the ways in which water is utilized through maritime material culture and history.

Water heritage means something different to a diver. It not only represents history but a path to connection and friendship.

2025-2026 | Kindra Barber (BS Anthropology 2025)

Kindra Barber's research emphasizes the technological knowledge and cultural significance embedded in pitched basketry used for water storage and transport. By examining basket construction, use, and conservation challenges, the project highlights Indigenous relationships with water in arid environments such as the Great Basin and Four Corners regions, as well as the ingenuity required to manage this vital resource.

Water heritage is about the everyday ways people value and depend on water, shaped by lived experience and by learning how water affects where and how people live.

2025-2026 | Madeline Moore (BA Anthropology 2025)

Madeline Moore's research focuses on people's perspectives of water and water heritage using statewide survey data and semi-structured interviews. The Utah People and Environmental Poll provides data on a wide range of subjects, from pollution to land management to conservation efforts. The most recent pull of data received over 400 responses to nearly 400 categories, resulting in massive amounts of information. Madeline works to sort through these responses and utilize both graphic and numerical imaging to turn raw data into interpretable results.

Water heritage influences everything we see and lives in every one of us, from the architecture we build to the wars we fight to the poetry we write.

Past Research Assistants

2023-2024 | Gabriel Boghosian (MS Archaeology 2025)
2019-2022 | Kelly Jimenez (MS Archaeology 2021)
2021-2022 | Mariah Walzer (MS Archaeology 2024)
2020-2021 | Victoria Ramirez (MS Archaeology 2021)
2020-2021 | Megan Jenson (BA Anthropology 2021)
2020-2021 | Moni Butte (BA Anthropology 2021)
2019-2020 | Benjamin Johnson (BS Anthropology 2020)