Terve (Good day)!
My name is Erika, and I am originally from Appleton, Wisconsin. Growing up, I was very active in Girl Scouts, and in high school I was on the debate team. Ever since I was little, I have loved doing different craft projects, particularly knitting and sewing.
After graduating high school, I moved to Milwaukee and went to school at Marquette University. I studied anthropology (the study of people in all times and places), German and history.
After I graduated from Marquette, I interned at the Milwaukee Public Museum, working with one of their archaeological collections. It included pieces of fabric that were over 3,000 years old! Because of my love for sewing and knitting, I could look at fabric like this and understand how it was made.
I decided I wanted to study fabric from the past, so I moved to Buffalo, New York to work towards my doctorate degree at the University at Buffalo. I started doing research with the Church, Space and Memory project at the University of Oulu in Oulu, Finland. Our research focuses on a series of burials from the 1600s through the late 1800s.
Last year, I applied for and received a Fulbright-EDUFI Fellowship to continue my research. I am now living in Oulu, Finland for nine months. When I get home, I will finish my degree. I hope to be a professor at a university someday!
