Indiana University of Pennsylvania Anthropology faculty members Abigail Adams and Amanda Poole, along with students Shanya Coshey, Marisol Gonzalez Flores, Seth Koch, Samantha Langley, and Abigail Trimble, attended the eighty-sixth annual Society for Applied Anthropology meetings held March 17–21, 2026, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Samantha Langley
Abigail Trimble
Coshey, Koch, and Flores were on a panel titled “Northern Appalachian Health: Addressing Access and Wellbeing Through Undergraduate Ethnography,” where they each presented an academic paper. The panel was chaired by Adams and Poole, and the research was developed through Adams’ Medical Anthropology (ANTH 444) course and Poole’s Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 211) course.
Langley presented a poster on her individual research titled “Branding Bigfoot: How Folklore Fuels Rural Futures,” and Trimble presented a poster on her anthropology senior thesis research titled “Legacy in Limbo: Energy Transition and AI Data Centers In a Former Appalachian Coal Town,” a project exploring cultural meanings, public health risks, and community concerns regarding the proposed AI datacenter in Indiana County.
The efforts highlighted the university’s focus on Appalachian studies, with students also participating in the Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative, a grant funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The students were recognized for contributing to the next generation of applied anthropology and addressing critical Appalachian health and environmental challenges.
IUP students, faculty, and mentors at the 2026 Society for Applied Anthropology Conference