Peter Banke

Name:  Peter Banke

College: Cowell

Department: Anthropology 

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? Ryan Heumann Anthropology Undergraduate Endowed Scholarship

What year do you expect to graduate? 2020

Where do you call home?  Santa Cruz.

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out?  A warm and welcoming department, and faculty with similar research interests.

What is your field of focus?  California Archaeology, specifically archaeometry and lithic analysis.

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz?  I will be attending University of Nevada, Reno’s Anthropology PhD program and will be working in the Great Basin Paleoindian Research Unit. Starting this Spring I will be working on projects in Central California and the Channel Islands.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here?  There are so many, and I feel so fortunate for my experience here, but learning that my research proposal was accepted and that I received this award are HUGE highlights.

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz?  My biggest piece of advice is GO TO OFFICE HOURS and build relationships with faculty, staff, grad students and your peers.

How will this scholarship impact your academic life /research? This scholarship will take much of the burden off of me to get to the destinations I need to go, to collect the data I need to, and to share that data with my peers.