2026: PhD BioAnthropology, Indiana University

2023: MA Anthropology, Indiana University

2020: M.Sc Primate Behavior & Ecology, Central Washington University

2017: BA Anthropology Honors, The University of Texas at Austin 

• Biological Anthropology, Primatology, Conservation, Public Health, Visual Anthropology, Studio Art 

• Immune and endocrinology assays, microbial sequencing, ethnography, visual art, community engagement, photography 

• Ethnoprimatology, Umwelt (Ethology), Life History Theory, Biocultural Theory, OneHealth, Bioethics, Community Based Conservation

General Research

I study motherhood, care, and early life across primates and long lived species to understand how mothers and their offspring navigate changing ecological and social environments. My work centers multispecies caregiving systems, the behaviors, relationships, and physiological processes that support development, resilience, and well-being across generations.

I also specialize in research within mixed landscapes and religious spaces, where biological and cultural processes intersect. These environments provide a powerful lens for understanding how religious beliefs, social traditions, and ecological change shape human–animal relationships, influence behavior across species, and contribute to conservation and coexistence. By studying these intertwined systems, I explore how culture itself becomes part of the ecological context in which humans and wildlife live.

Additionally, I am invested in continuing my personal practice of scientific art and communication (sciart) and integrating it throughout my research career. 

Current and Developing Research 

• Sociality & conservation of humans and alloprimates in religious spaces 

• Behavior and physiology across altitudes

• Scientific art practices 

• Body condition chart development for accessible health checks in alloprimates 

• Biocultural analysis of of Aymara women’s breastfeeding and infant feeding practices under conditions of economic and climatic uncertainty (PI: Dr. Virginia Vitzthum)

• How orphanhood influences stress physiology and microbial patterns in elephants of Zambia (PI: Dr. Daniella Chusyd)  

• Pesticide and chemical impacts on Ugandan primate health (PI: Dr. Mike Wasserman)

Field Sites

• Garwahl Himalayas, India - Himalayan Langur Project

• Northern & Eastern Thailand - MSc Site & Dr. Mike Wasserman 

• Kibale, Uganda - Dr. Mike Wasserman 

• Coggeshall, E. M. C., Quinn, W. G., Chisaka, L., Kalande, K., Olivier, L., Mwaanga, W., Kasongo, M., N'gombwa, I., Wasserman, M. D., Amato, K., & Chusyd, D. E. (2026). Gut microbiome variation in orphaned and wild-reared African savanna elephants. Frontiers in Microbiomes. (In press).

• Steinbeiser, C., Chester, E., Mutegeki, R., Foran, E., Coggeshall, EMC., Demas, G. & M. Wasserman. (In submission). INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN ESTROGENIC PLANT CONSUMPTION PREDICTS FECAL ESTRADIOL LEVELS IN THE UGANDAN RED COLOBUS MONKEY (PILIOCOLOBUS TEPHROSCELES). Hormones and Behavior 

• Benavidez-Westrich, M., Coggeshall, E.M.C., Milton, K., Steiniche, T., Chester, E., & M. Wasserman. (In submission). Associations between fecal hormones and gut microbes in mantled howler monkeys of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. American Journal of Primatology. 

• Bolt, Laura M., Owens-Crux, Jenna L., Grant, Madison T., Coggeshall, Elizabeth M. C., Russell, Dorian G., Merrigan-Johnson, Carrie, Jacobson, Zachary S., Schmidt, Zachary T., Kaser, Francesca V. E., and Schreier, Amy L. (2024). Edge effects and social behaviour in three platyrrhines. American Journal of Primatology

• Schreier, A.L., Bolt, L.M., Russell, D.G., Jacobson, Z.S., Merrigan-Johnson, C., Coggeshall, E.M.C. (2021). Mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in a Costa Rica forest fragment do not modify activity budgets or spatial cohesion in response to anthropogenic edges. Folia primatologica.

• Bolt, Laura M., Schreier, Amy L., Russell, Dorian G., Jacobson, Zachary S., Merrigan-Johnson, Carrie, Matthew C. Barton, and Coggeshall, Elizabeth M. C. (2019). Howling on the edge: Mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) howling behaviour and edge effects in a fragmented rainforest in Costa Rica. Ethology.

• Bolt, L.M., Russell, D.G., Coggeshall, E.M.C., Jacobson, Z.S., Merrigan-Johnson, C., & Schreier, A.L. (2019). Howling by the river: Howler monkey (Aloutta palliata) communication in an anthropogenically-altered riparian forest in Costa Rica. Behaviour.

Theses

PhD: "Mother-Offspring Dynamics and the Gut Microbiome in Semnopithecus schistaceus"

MSc: “Group differences in mother-infant Macaca fascicularis behavior, parasite load, and body condition within an anthropogenically altered forest”

BA Honors: “The gut microbiome analysis of three genera of new world monkeys” 

Teaching

Indiana University 

• Global Climate Change & Human Health (HUBI)

• Gestation & Early Development (HUBI)

• Becoming Human (ANTH)

• Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH)

Central Washington University 

• Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH)

Relationships & Associations

• Himalayan Langur Project, Co-director

• CEDAR, Associate Fellow

• IU Animal Behavior Program 

• IU Human Biology Program

• Phana Monkey Project

• Indiana University Animal Behavior Program Curriculum Committee

• NIH CTRD Pre-doctoral Fellowship 

• Human Biology Association 

• American Association of Biological Anthropologists

• Animal Behavior Conference Committee

• American Society of Primatologists & Midwest Primate Interest Group