The Office of Student Research is proud to feature Megan Shipe in this week’s “Scholar Story”.

Megan Shipe is a junior at Longwood University. She is majoring in Anthropology and Archaeology and has a minor in Sociology. Her multi-disciplinary project combined archaeology and chemistry to analyze the potential manufacturing origins of blue glass beads from a 17th century archaeological site known as Eyreville. Her favorite part of this project was the process of discovering new things about the beads she was working with, especially when it came to learning the chemical makeup of the glass. Through this research project Megan says she has "become much more confident in myself and my ability to contribute to the field of archaeology.”

Megan first became interested in this research project because “Dr. Brian Bates offered me this opportunity with full confidence in my abilities, so I agreed as both a way to prove to myself that this was something I was capable of and to aid in my future as an archaeologist.”

Megan says that one of the benefits she gained from participating in this research project was that “ I have improved on my research skills overall, from designing a project to writing a professional article. I honestly did not know I was capable of all of that prior to this project.”

Megan presented her research at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeology Conference in March 2021.

Congratulations to Megan on her successful research!

If you would like to have your research featured in a “Scholar Story”, or if you would like to learn more about getting involved in research at Longwood University, please visit Longwood’s Office of Student Research website http://www.longwood.edu/office-of-student-research/

or contact Amorette Barber, Director of the Office of Student Research (osr@longwood.edu or barberar@longwood.edu).