Dr. Douglas Owsley, Division Head for Physical Anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, will serve as Keynote Speaker at the 24th Annual Virginia Museum of Natural History Thomas Jefferson Awards on Friday, April 8 at VMNH.

Dr. Doug Owsley received his Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Wyoming in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology from the University of Tennessee in 1978.  In 1987, Dr. Owsley joined the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as a curator, and has served since 1990 as the Division Head for Physical Anthropology.

Dr. Owsley is engaged in forensic anthropology case work, assisting state and federal law enforcement agencies.  Cases have included Jeffrey Dahmer’s first victim, recovery and identification of Waco Branch Davidian compound members, the 9-11 Pentagon plane crash, and exhumation and identification of war dead from the former Yugoslavia.

His bioarchaeological and osteological research concerns include: ancient American skeletons like Kennewick Man and the peopling of the New World; demography and health of 17th-century colonists; Civil War military remains including the crew of the H.L. Hunley submarine; iron coffin burials; and analyses of activity patterns, health and diseases of American Indian populations from the Plains and Southwest.

His current research is focused on human skeletal remains from the 17th-century Chesapeake region of Virginia and Maryland.  The results of this research is featured in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History titled “Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake.”  Dr. Owsley is co-curator of the exhibition.