Instruction Team Bios

Co-Director: Dr. Deb Meier
Dr. Meier is the Senior Assistant Director for Online and Distance Learning in Executive Education as part of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has broad experience in museum exhibit design and production, archaeology, scientific illustration, public engagement, and instructional technology. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1977 and her M.S. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in scientific illustration from the University of Arizona in 1980. In 2007, she earned her Ph.D. in Educational Studies with an emphasis in instructional technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She began working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1990 and has served a number of departments in a variety of capacities. Over the years, she has traveled extensively throughout South America to assess mummy preservation for museums and research facilities. Dr. Meier's work in Brazil included working with Museum staff in developing intervention strategies for preserving rapidly-decomposing Egyptian mummies and has taught courses in mummy conservation in Brazil. She also has expertise in facial reconstruction, anoxic environments for mummy conservation, and mummy preservation in museum settings.

Instructor: Dr. Johnica J. Morrow
Dr. Morrow recently graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's School of Natural Resources with her Ph.D. in Natural Resource Sciences specializing in Applied Ecology. She earned a B.S. in Organismal Biology with a second major in History from Midwestern State University in 2009. She went on to complete an M.S. in General Biology in 2012 from the same university. She has been broadly trained as a whole organism biologist, palynologist, parasitologist, and pathoecologist. She has conducted both domestic and international collaborative research projects that were interdisciplinary in nature. She began teaching undergraduates in 2008 and has taught a multitude of courses based in organismal biology and pathoecology. She has served her department and discipline(s) via serving on committees, volunteering for outreach events, scientific blogging, and serving as a reviewer for a few scientific journals. Her scholarly activities have earned her several awards for excellent in research, teaching, and service. Her experience with mummy research has focused on the analysis of macrobotanicals, pollen and starch grains, parasite evidence, and insect fragments. She has worked with mummified material from a variety of time periods and geographic regions. These projects include examinations of parasites among mummies from Lithuania's Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit, puparia from the Blessed Antonio Patrizi of Monticiano, and embalming jar contents from some of the members of Florence's famed Medici family (Vittoria della Rovere and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici).

Co-Director: Dr. Dario Piombino-Mascali
Dr. Piombino-Mascali is the scientific curator of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy, and head of the Sicily Mummy Project. He is also a lecturer in the History of Medicine at the University of Messina as well as a National Geographic Explorer. Dr. Piombino-Mascali cooperates with mummy centers all over the world to conduct examinations of mummies. He was part of the Erasmus/Socrates Exchange Program at the University of Leicester's School of Archaeology from 2000-2001. He earned his Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Pisa in 2002. He went on to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Pisa in 2007. He has received many awards for his work as a scholar and been involved in innumerable projects involving mummies. One of the most famous mummies that he has ever worked with was Palermo's Sleeping Beauty, Rosalia Lombardo. Dr. Piombino-Mascali worked with this mummy in 2010 and was able to conduct CT scans of the mummy and to help unlock the secrets of the embalming techniques used to preserve the young Sicilian girl in the 1900s.

Co-Director: Dr. Karl J. Reinhard
Dr. Reinhard is a professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is broadly trained as an archaeologist, palynologist, parasitologist, and pathoecologist. Dr. Reinhard earned his B.A. from the University of Arizona in 1977 and then his M.S. from the University of Northern Arizona in 1985. He completed his Ph.D. from Texas A& M University in 1988 and began working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1989. He has conducted interdisciplinary research in many fields and taught dozens of courses in those fields. He has served his department, institution, and discipline(s) by serving on committees, editorial boards, and as a reviewer for various scientific journals. His work as a scholar has earned him multiple awards for excellent in research, teaching, and service. His experience with mummy research has focused on the analysis of macrobotanicals, pollen and starch grains, parasite evidence, and insect fragments. He has worked with mummified material from five continents. His work has spanned across many time periods, from some of the world's oldest mummies, the Chinchorro (with the oldest mummy dated to around 7020 BCE), to historic mummies, like those recovered from Lithuania's Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit. His work has included examinations of material from famous mummified individuals, such as the Medici (Vittoria della Rovere and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici) and the Blessed Antonio Patrizi of Monticiano.