Research Opportunities

Kenneth J. Opat Fund for Undergraduate Research in Anthropology

The department has a special fund to support undergraduate research in anthropology. The Kenneth J. Opat Fund was established by the family and friends of the late Kenneth J. Opat, a distinguished anthropology major in the College of Arts and Sciences at the time of his death, with the primary purpose of encouraging undergraduate students in the conduct and reporting of original research in anthropology.

A variety of research expenses are eligible for support from the fund. Examples include travel to a research site or to a professional meeting to report on research or to confer with an expert on research plans; the purchase of research supplies, equipment, or library materials (equipment and books to be retained by the university on completion of the project); wages for informants, etc.

Priority is given to applications to support research for an anthropology honors thesis or for independent studies or other advanced courses in which a research project is involved. A competition for such grants is announced by the chair during the fall or spring semesters.

In the past, awards have been made for field work on "Skid Row" in New Orleans, the Houma Indians of Louisiana, Chicano mural artists in Los Angeles, and plastic surgeons in Great Britain and the U.S.; travel to the Smithsonian Institution to study projectile point collections; a study of the leaders of messianic movements in several parts of the world; a comparative study of markets in several towns in East Africa; a study of primate behavior at the Delta Regional Primate Center; and the classification of prehistoric bone implements in Louisiana.