People of PRI

The Prairie Research Institute earlier this year recognized employees who were nominated by colleagues for their outstanding achievements and excellent work. The Employee Recognition Program celebrates effort, achievement, excellence, and PRI’s appreciation.

Amanda Quealy is a sophomore majoring in history and anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As an undergraduate researcher at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Amanda plays an essential role in organizing and cataloging artifacts, ranging from bones to botanical materials and lithics.

Seth Allgeier recently joined the Illinois State Archaeological Survey as a curation specialist. At PRI, Seth is leveraging his fieldwork experience to assess, organize, and digitize Illinois Department of Transportation site documents

Recognized for her exceptional contributions, Mera Hertel, a cornerstone of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS), has been honored with the 2024 Distinguished Support Staff Award by the Prairie Research Institute.

Kenton Geier, a research archaeologist, is a familiar face with the ISAS crew. He's worked at the survey for nearly a decade and is heavily involved in outreach and educational opportunities raising public awareness of past and current destruction of archaeological sites.  Geier's work centers around time – finding opportunities every day to preserve items from the past for future generations!

Robert Rohe returns to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) behind the lens and a with a different view. Rohe spent nearly a decade working on the East St. Louis Mound project, and will be working in production and graphic design in the American Bottom Field Station documenting excavations at some of their sites for outreach and training purposes.

If there's construction planned in your area, one of the first people you may see on the scene is Patrick Green, the Central Illinois Field Station coordinator at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS). As an Illinois native, Patrick knows the Illinois landscape quite well and is a wealth of knowledge about the history and archaeological sites all around Illinois and the United States! He recently answered some questions about his work, career advice, and why you don't have to travel to Egypt or the Yucatan (unless you want to!) to learn about fascinating ancient history – it's all around you!

Meet Lauren Fitts, Research Archaeologist with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS). Initially drawn to archaeology because of Jurassic Park, she now leads archaeological surveys in advance of Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) related projects.

Elizabeth Watts Malouchos recently answered some questions about her career in archaeology, commonly-held misconceptions about archaeology, and her advice for those just starting out in the field.

Jim Pisell has been with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey for nearly 20 years, and while technology has changed the face and pace of what archaeology looks like today, at its core Jim believes it's deeper than artifacts—it is a type of informed storytelling.