Co-Principal Investigators
Laura Wai Ng
Laura Ng (PhD, Stanford University) is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Grinnell College and is from Los Angeles, CA. She is a historical archaeologist who researches late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chinese migrants and their transpacific lives. She is currently investigating archaeologies of racism and transnationalism at the Evanston and Rock Springs Chinatowns in rural Southwestern Wyoming as community-engaged projects conducted in collaboration with Dr. Dudley Gardner, Chinese American descendants, and student researchers.
A. Dudley Gardner
Dudley Gardner (PhD, University of New Mexico) is Professor Emeritus at Western Wyoming Community College and Director of Western Anthropological and Archaeological Research Institute. He has written several articles and books on Wyoming including, with Vera Flores, Forgotten Frontier: A History of Wyoming Coal Mining, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989).
Research Assistants
Avajane Lei
Avajane is a current student of Grinnell’s class of 2028. She is an Anthropology major from Washington, DC, and intends to concentrate in Peace and Conflict Studies. Avajane is specifically interested in studying racial violence and Asian diaspora through the lens of historical archaeology. As a research assistant in Wyoming Chinatowns MAP (Mentored Advanced Project) of summer 2025, she deepens her knowledge and interests of these topics through archaeological analysis of the Rock Springs Chinatown and the Evanston Chinatown.
Luis Lopez
Luis Lopez is majoring in Anthropology and Computer Science at Grinnell College and is part of the 2027 graduating class. He is from the greater Chicago suburbs and will be a member of the Wyoming Chinatowns 2025 Summer Research Team. He has a particular interest in the ceramics and glass bottles found in Wyoming Chinatowns and the ways archaeology can unveil food habits of people in the past.
Wyoming Chinatowns Archaeology Project Collaborators/Contributors: Paul Hoornbeek, Peter Lau, Cheryll Leo-Gwin, Chuck Leo, Grace Leo, Ricky Leo, John Yee, Arvin Chin, Jeff Yee Litt, Kori Brown, Robert Lew
Wyoming Chinatowns Archaeology Project Volunteers: Lian Lew, Colette Wang
Former Research Assistants
Jorge Salinas
Jorge Salinas is a current student at Grinnell College and is part of the Class of 2026. He is an anthropology major with a concentration in film and media studies from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas (the true South of Texas). Jorge’s academic interests fall under the themes of border studies and immigrant justice. For this Mentored Advanced Project (MAP), Jorge is particularly interested in opium paraphernalia and in understanding the daily lives of Chinese migrants. Through his time and research under the Wyoming Chinatowns MAP, Jorge plans to advance his skills in ethnography and archaeological techniques to further his academic interests.
Julia Ghorai
Julia is an Anthropology and Mathematics major at Grinnell College in the class 2027 and is originally from Oakland, California. As a member of the Wyoming Chinatowns 2025 Summer Research Team, Julia is particularly interested in the ceramic tablewares from the Wyoming Chinatowns and what they indicate about trading habits. She has been passionate about archaeology since childhood and hopes to pursue it at a graduate level in the future!
Evan Albaugh
Although he earned his degree in History, Evan was deeply involved in archaeology at Grinnell. His passion for discovering, identifying and researching artifacts not only led him to many archaeology classes, but also to the lab. For three years, Evan worked alongside George Matthes ‘25 to catalog artifacts from the Evanston Chinatown site. Utilizing his expertise in historic glass artifacts, he helped catalog more than 3,000 codes representing tens of thousands of artifacts. After a year of working in the lab together, Evan and George co-founded Grinnell’s first Archaeology Club, bringing together students of diverse backgrounds to celebrate and promote archaeology. Since graduating, Evan has been pursuing a career in the museum field, where he hopes share his love for Iowa history and archaeology with others.
George Matthes