Biography

Brianna Muir has always been passionate about history and archaeology. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology from the Australian National University in 2019, Muir decided to pursue a master’s degree in Anthropology at UCF. She chose UCF due to the prominent Anthropology program and the positive experiences she had communicating with faculty and staff. Muir is a bioarchaeologist and aims to use integrative approaches to address questions of personhood, identity, and agency in the past. More specifically, she investigates how these factors may have shaped and influenced a person’s lived experience. Muir conducted research within the Laboratory for Bioarchaeological Sciences (LBAS) on stable isotope analysis, analyzing ancient bones and teeth to get an idea of what people were eating in the past; and to learn about their migration patterns. For her work at UCF, she has received the Graduate Dean’s Fellowship and the Graduate Presentation Fellowship to present her research at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. She also was awarded the Trevor Colbourn Anthropology Endowment Fund to support her thesis research.

In addition to her studies, Muir worked as a graduate teaching assistant in the Anthropology department. The experience of working as a GTA cultivated her love for teaching, inspiring her to one day teach classes of her own. She advised fellow students to make time for themselves outside of their studies and take opportunities to explore their passions as well. Muir graduated in the Spring of 2023 and returned home to Australia to pursue a PhD with the goal of attaining a position in teaching or academic research at a university. In her free time, she could be found wakeboarding with KnightsWake – the UCF wakeboarding club – or participating in the many organizations she was involved with around campus.

Areas of Research/Interest

Bioarchaeology, stable isotope analysis