Nature used only the longest threads to weave her patterns,
so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
Richard Feynman

Research Interests

Reconstructing Past Oceans and Aquatic Resource Exploitation
Currently I am working on identifying fish remains from various different periods and context.  This is important to understanding how our ancestors fished and ate.  As part of a larger project I am looking to understand animal populations as they were in the past and how we might be able to sustain them in the present economic and geographic climate with warming average temperatures and management of "sustainable" fishing.

 Modern Freshwater Bream and Cod
 Archaeological Fish Bones from York
 Enceladus and Europa
Human Migration Patterns
I am interested in how humans moved from one location to the other and how they responded as populations to environmental or political hardship.  The focus is also on how human movement and exploitation of aquatic resources is impacted by environmental changed or localized over fishing or other over exploitation of resources.  Using DNA and protein analysis of bones and artifacts population migration can be tracked through time.

Technical Aspects of DNA and Protein Preservation
My PhD thesis involved exploring different types of DNA preservation in extreme conditions.  This is not only relevant for archaeological material, but also for the possibility of detecting biomolecules in other places where there are low amounts of sample such as in the deep subsurface or on other bodies in our solar system such as Mars, Enceladus, and Europa.  I collaborate with a broad range of geoscientists, chemists, astronomers, and engineers.

Scholarships and Grants

-Marie Curie Fellow (2016-2018)
-Newton International Fellow, British Academy (2015-2016)
-NASA Space Grant Fellow (2010-2012)
-Paul and Harriet Campbell Distinguished Graduate Fellow, Penn State (2009-2010)
-Vagelos Scholar, University of Pennsylvania (2001-2006)

Publications


JR Paris, KD Sherman, E Bell, C Boulenger, C Delord, MBM El-Mahdi, EA Fairfield, AM Griffiths, C Gutmann Roberts, RD Hedger, LE Holman, LH Hooper, NE Humphries, I Katsiadaki, RA King, A Lemopoulos, CJ Payne, G Peirson, KK Richter, MI Taylor, CN Trueman, B Hayden, JR Stevens. (2018) Understanding and Managing Fish Populations: keeping the toolbox fit for purpose.  Journal of Fish Biology92(3): 727-751. (Citations: 5)

AKG Jones,KK Richter.(2017) Widening the net: new approaches to the identification of fish remains from archaeological sites.  In S Gabriel, E. Reitz (Eds.) Fishing through time. Archaeoichthyology, biodiversity, ecology and human impact on aquatic environments. Proceedings of the 18thbiennial meeting of the Fish Remains Working Group (FRWG). Lisboa: Direcção Geral do Património Cultural.

KK Richter.(2016) Fish ‘n’ ships: a story about food and holistic outreach. British Academy Review28:54-56. https://www.britac.ac.uk/sites/default/files/BAR28-15-Richter.pdf

MJ Collins, J Harland, O Craig, KK Richter, N van Doorn N, and C Trueman. (2011). What use are old fish bones in helping to understand the history of marine animal populations? In Gertwagen R., Fortibuoni T., Giovanardi O., Libralato S., Solidoro C. and Raicevich S. (Eds.) HMAP International Summer School When Humanities Meet Ecology: Historic changes in Mediterranean and Black Sea marine biodiversity and ecosystems since the Roman period until nowadays. Languages, methodologies and perspectives. (pp. 61-72). Rome: Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale.

KK Richter, J Wilson, AKG Jones, M Buckley, N van Doorn, and MJ Collins. (2011). Fish 'n chips: ZooMS peptide mass fingerprinting in a 96 well plate format to identify fish bone fragments. Journal of Archaeological Science38(7): 1502-1510. (Citations: 50)