Hands-on learning is key to the educational experience in the Saint Louis University Department of Sociology and Anthropology. SLU's department supports research and innovation at every turn by offering lab opportunities in archaeology, forensic science, health policy, geospatial science and urban policy.
Our advanced laboratories enhance student learning through applied research. The academic work done in the labs helps students develop new skills and also provides a new way of seeing and applying lessons from the classroom.
The labs promote analytic thinking and fact-based decision-making, giving students who want to work on academic publications, grants or applied solutions to local challenges the chance to start as early as their freshman or sophomore years. Faculty in the labs serve as mentors for the students as they conduct their own cutting-edge applied research.
Lab Options
Principal Investigator: Mary R. Vermilion, Ph.D.
SLU’s Archaeology Lab is located on the third floor of Morrissey Hall and provides a workspace where students can explore and contribute to the science of archaeology. The lab provides hands-on opportunities for students to explore prehistoric and historic lithics, ceramics and other materials. During the summer, the lab is the site for processing artifacts recovered from excavations. In addition to washing, sorting and creating an inventory of the archaeological record, students learn to identify, sketch and photograph the diagnostics, and to analyze and interpret the remains.
Students enrolled in a research activity, advanced independent study or capstone course have access to the lab to work on their own research or that of the principal investigator. They also have the opportunity to publish their research or to contribute to the excavation site reports.
The lab computer is equipped with ArcGIS and allows students to implement their research. School groups and other community members can also visit the lab to learn about our human past.
Principal Investigator: Hisako Matsou, Ph.D.
SLU’s Health Policy Research Lab focuses on applied and community-based research relevant to health issues.
Areas of research include:
- Access to healthcare among immigrants
- Physical and mental health of older adults
- Refugee children's health
- Language development of internationally adopted children
- Artificial reproductive treatment
- Caregiving insurance
Principal Investigator: J.S. Onésimo Sandoval, Ph.D.
SLU’s GeoSRI lab explores the intersection of spatial statistics, demography, inequality, policy and justice. Of special interest to the lab is the role that cutting-edge geoinformatics and computational spatial science can play in exploring the relationship between quality of life, social inequality, space and justice.
The lab is located in Morrissey Hall and has 26 high-powered specialized computers. It supports "R", "STATA", "SAS" and "SPSS" programming, as well as numerous geospatial mapping and related programs with applications across disciplines and areas of specialization in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Areas of research include:
- The intersection of neighborhood demographic transitions and racial inequality
- Spatial segregation in American cities
- Latino demographic trends
- Demographic analysis of immigrant mobility
- Journey-to-crime spatial models
- Spatial analysis of food deserts
- The spatial hierarchy of cities: a computational approach to measuring spatial inequality
- A spatial analysis of warrants in St. Louis County: municipal courts, race and place
- Urban heat island effects and socio-environmental inequality in humid environments: a case study in the St. Louis Metropolitan region