Two University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa graduates are making a difference at the (DPAA), where they work to identify the remains of U.S. service members who never returned home from past conflicts.

Forensic anthropologists Ashley Atkins and Stephanie Medrano both credit UH with preparing them for meaningful careers at DPAA, which operates the world’s largest forensic anthropology laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Korean War project

Atkins earned her PhD in in UH ��ā�ԴDz�’s in May 2025 after moving to �鶹��ý in 2017 to pursue her dissertation research on human remains in Japan. She works on DPAA’s Korean War project, which involves identifying soldiers’ remains disinterred from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as Punchbowl.

“Every other week we’re doing disinterments at Punchbowl, so we get eight sets of new remains and we go through those and go through the identification process using anthropological methods,” Atkins said. “It’s just such a nice and meaningful job to have, and you always feel like you’re doing something important.”

Atkins said UH ��ā�ԴDz�’s anthropology department and the played a critical role in her development.

“UH really shaped me into a more polished anthropologist,” she said. “My advisor (Professor Christopher Bae) was so knowledgeable and helpful to me, and as a whole UH has been great for me. The Center for Japanese Studies was one of my funding outlets so I wouldn’t have been able to do my research without their funding. I also got a lot of experience at the John A. Burns School of Medicine’s Willed Body Program.”

She continues to give back as a lecturer in forensic anthropology at UH Mānoa.

Tarawa and Solomon Islands projects

Medrano, who graduated from UH Mānoa with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 2011 and with a certificate in forensic anthropology in 2017, works on DPAA’s Tarawa and Solomon Islands projects. She analyzes both complete and fragmentary remains to help bring families answers after decades of uncertainty.

“It definitely is a privilege to work here to try to provide families with closure,” Medrano said. “These individuals have been looking for their family members, some going on 80 years because we deal with World War II individuals as well. It’s a really awesome feeling to be able to give that to family members.”

Medrano said UH provided the mentorship and opportunities that led her into the field.

“When I first started there, I had really good mentors. Dr. (Miriam) Stark was really integral in my education, and Dr. (Christopher) Bae was also really important too,” she said. “Luckily, UH West Oʻahu had the forensic anthropology certificate program, and part of their curriculum was to do an internship here at DPAA. So it all kind of ties together.”

‘Dream job’

The graduates’ work comes as UH and DPAA strengthen ties through a new five-year Education Partnership Agreement signed in August 2025. The agreement aims to expand research collaborations, student opportunities and scientific innovation to advance DPAA’s humanitarian mission.

“I think for forensic anthropologists as a whole, working at the DPAA is where you would like to end up—a lot of people’s dream jobs,” Atkins said. “I would like for anthropologists and just anyone in any field to know that you can get to your ultimate dream goal for a job.”

“I came in as a 3rd-year undergraduate at UH and I was still trying to find my path. It was the professors that worked at UH Mānoa and then the professors that worked at UH West Oʻahu that really helped me,” Medrano said. “For students, if you apply yourself, network and utilize the resources that are at UH—because there’s a lot—you’ll be able to, let’s say if you did want to be a forensic anthropologist, you could end up here and/or whatever it is that you wanted to do.”

Decades of advancing forensic anthropology in Thailand and training the country’s first forensic osteologists have earned Robert Mann, professor at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa’s (JABSOM), the Sood Sangvichian Gold Medal Award from Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. The award honors those who have made significant contributions to the field of forensic medicine, and Mann is the first recipient from outside Thailand.

Mann’s relationship with Thailand began in 1992, during his work with the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) in �鶹��ý. On his first mission, he ventured into the jungles of Laos to recover remains of American soldiers lost during the Vietnam War. His expertise soon caught the attention of Thai officials, leading to his first lecture on skeletal trauma at the Royal Thai Air Force Base. Over the next three decades, Mann conducted workshops, trained forensic professionals and helped develop Thailand’s forensic capabilities.

Building forensic expertise in Thailand

“Thailand didn’t have forensic anthropologists when I started visiting nearly three decades ago,” said Mann. “I started giving a lot of training over the years to the Missing Persons Identification Centre Section in Bangkok.”

He began training police, medical doctors and archaeologists in forensic techniques, focusing on skeletal analysis methods commonly used in the U.S. Since his first visit in the 1990s, Mann built relationships with Thai institutions, including Siriraj Hospital, Chiang Mai University and Khon Kaen University. His mentorship has helped establish forensic anthropology programs and labs across the country.

“Many of the people I’ve trained are now referred to as Thailand’s pioneer forensic osteologists,” he said. “It’s been incredible to watch them take what they’ve learned and apply it to their own cases and investigations.”

Advancing global collaboration

Mann’s contributions extend beyond training. He has assisted with challenging cases involving unidentified human remains, providing crucial insights to law enforcement and medical examiners. His expertise has been instrumental in elevating the country’s forensic capabilities, benefiting both legal investigations and humanitarian efforts.

“Teaching in Thailand has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career,” he said. “I’m very grateful to get an award like this from a prestigious hospital, and it helps strengthen and spread the word about the role and importance of forensic anthropology not only in Thailand, but worldwide.”

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Renowned forensic anthropologist Robert Mann of the University of �鶹��ý at Manoa (JABSOM) has examined more than 15,000 ancient and modern human skeletons throughout his career. This summer, he was invited to analyze human remains from a newly unearthed area in ancient Pompeii, marking one of the most fascinating investigations of his career.

A frequent visitor to Italy, Mann teaches annually at the LABANOF Summer Bone Camp in Pontestura, affiliated with the State University of Milan. This year, he taught 36 students, including medical doctors, archaeologists and biologists. During his trip, he was invited to visit Pompeii, the of a city frozen in time after being buried under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

“The volcanic eruption presents a unique situation and a challenge as the remains encased in volcanic ash are nearly 2,000 years old and can be extremely fragile to excavate and examine,” said Mann, a professor of anatomy and pathology at JABSOM.

Mann collaborated with a team of expert archaeologists, contributing his extensive knowledge to the ongoing research.

“I can’t really speak about the Pompeii remains as the examination and excavation are underway as we speak. I can say that my trip to ancient Pompeii was perhaps the most interesting and exciting site in my career,” he said. “It was an honor and privilege to visit the site. I hope to return there again next year to assist however I can.”

Beyond Pompeii

Mann’s summer was filled with teaching and research beyond Pompeii. He conducted examinations, delivered lectures and led forensic anthropology workshops in Thailand, Scotland and Germany. His work included studying a newly assembled osteological collection in Bangkok and analyzing the remains of a prisoner guillotined in early 19th-century Germany.

“I’m going to Thailand to teach a three-day forensic anthropology workshop on skeletal trauma in Chiang Mai,” he said. “As always, I see and learn something new every year. Forensic anthropology never ceases to amaze me!”

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Robert Mann has helped in the recovery of some of the largest disasters around the world from 9/11 to the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The professor of anatomy and pathology at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa (JABSOM) has now taken on assisting with the recovery efforts on Maui, where the worst wildfire in more than a century has left more than 100 people dead, and 800—1,000 people missing.

“It was unlike anything I really expected,” said Mann, who has worked at JABSOM for the last eight years and has been a lecturer at for more than 10 years.

State officials called on Mann for his vast experience in helping families identify loved ones in some of the world’s largest disasters and tragedies.

“Even with all the mass disasters I’ve done and all, every single one of them is different. The Maui wildfire disaster certainly was different,” he said.

Complicated disaster scene

As a forensic anthropologist, Mann uses bones and bone fragments to help identify remains. The disaster on Maui is proving difficult. According to Maui County, the scope of the disaster scene in Lahaina is 2,170 acres. Mann said the temperatures from the inferno and the gusts from Hurricane Dora created challenges in the recovery and identification effort.

“This is not an airplane crash where you’ve got 20 people that are manifested on the airplane. This is a huge area, and the perimeters are extremely big,” Mann said. “One of the complicating factors would be the high winds. Those winds will move things that were at one point here and then end up being a hundred feet away.”

More on how to help Maui ʻohana and the Maui wildfires.

A team of forensic pathologists, forensic anthropologists, dentists, radiologists, fingerprint technicians, DNA specialists, firefighters, police and FBI agents were all sent to aid in the recovery and identification efforts. While others were sifting through the disaster site looking for remains, Mann was one of three forensic anthropologists at the morgue, working with located remains, trying to make the connections to the identities that loved ones are desperately seeking.

“Forensic pathologists are not trained to identify bone fragments or tell you anything about it,” Mann said. “We will pick the bones up and offer insight. We can tell if something is a right ulna (forearm bone) or a left leg. This can then lead to identifying the age or biological sex of a victim. So although the dentists do the teeth, we do the bones, and the pathologists do the bodies, we work as a team.”

A long process ahead

Because of the sheer size of the disaster scene, Mann knows it may take years for some identities to be known. He says 9/11 victims are still being identified more than 20 years later.

Because this is in our own backyard, we want to do it right, and we’re going to do our best to continue to do the right thing.
—Robert Mann

“Others may need to be identified by DNA. Some of the badly burned remains are not going to yield DNA, but some of them will,” he said.

As the recovery and identification efforts may span years, Mann asks for patience. “I see the process continuing, and it’s not an easy process,” Mann said. “Nobody’s enjoying this, but there’s no other way that I know of to do it. It’s one step at a time, and you’re climbing this very tall ladder where the only way to get to the top, which will be the identification, will be one step at a time.”

Mann has called �鶹��ý home since the 90s, so there’s an added reverence he has when assisting on Maui.

“This is in our own backyard,” he said. “This is home for many of the people who are working this. You run into people at the scene who lost somebody, and it’s a very personal thing for them. It becomes very personal for those of us working with them. Because this is in our own backyard, we want to do it right, and we’re going to do our best to continue to do the right thing.”

Specialized JABSOM lab

Mann’s osteology and forensic anthropology lab at JABSOM is the only one of its kind in the state. It assists in mass disasters like what we’re seeing on Maui, but it also educates doctors in bones and bone disease and trauma.

“�鶹��ý hadn’t had this kind of a lab until now,” Mann said. “So this is �鶹��ý’s lab, and I hope every state in the United States has a forensic lab like this. I think we’re doing our best, and I think we’re getting to be a gold standard for the way skeletal labs are structured.”

—By Matthew Campbell

Kiana Miller had a puzzled look on her face as she stood with each hand stuck into one of holes on the side of a cardboard box in front of her. She couldn’t see inside the box. But emblazoned on it was the word “BONES,” and from where observers sat, they could see a drawing straight from the pages of a Halloween cartoon book, showing a family of skeletons sitting around a dinner table.

This may not be exactly what students expected who signed up for the Human Skeleton in Forensic Anthropology and Medicine course this summer at the University of �鶹��ý. But it is part of why the innovative class won an academic award out of the starting gate and just completed its third year at UH, reaching more students that ever.

Recognized by the Western Association of Summer Session Administrators as the best summer course in 2017, this year’s class brought together 37 students from �鶹��ý, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Florida, Montana, Washington state, Germany and Thailand, to learn in the anatomy labs of the (JABSOM) and in the field and classrooms at .

The forensics course was the brainchild of Bob Mann, the JABSOM adjunct professor whose long resume includes service as the founding director and primary instructor of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s Forensic Science Academy from 2007 to 2014.

“The exercise provides participants with a hands-on experience that highlights the importance of using all of the senses when doing an examination, whether of a bone or a living patient,” said Mann.

Course faculty member Jennifer Byrnes, UH West Oʻahu assistant professor of , described this summer’s students as diverse, including professionals who traveled from abroad to learn from the UH team.

“We had some participants who had no experience in archaeological methods to some that were professionals,” said Byrnes. “I think this leads to an atmosphere of knowledge sharing in small groups, in which all individuals took away something new after participating in the archaeological recovery day.”

—By Tina Shelton

A first-of-its-kind forensics workshop, developed by the , University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa and , earned an award from the Western Association of Summer Session Administrators for best non-credit course.

Human Skeleton in Forensic Anthropology and Medicine was a one-week intensive workshop, held in July, that covered the analysis of human skeletal remains as they relate to forensic anthropology and forensic medicine. Students received classroom and laboratory training utilizing a broad array of learning materials including contemporary skeletons in the John A. Burns School of Medicine Department of Anatomy.

The workshop was divided into two components—human osteology and forensic anthropology and field recovery of human remains in a forensic setting. Students analyzed a known-identity human skeleton and compiled a biological profile consisting of the individual’s age at death, sex, ancestry, stature, bone disease and trauma.

“I want to acknowledge Adjunct Anatomy Professor Robert “Bob” Mann, who initially conceived the idea and whose commitment made the course happen,” said Scott Lozanoff, professor and chair of the at the medical school. Lozanoff also singled out Sandra von Doetinchem of Outreach College for providing outstanding leadership, and the faculty and staff at UH West Oʻahu for their expertise and collegiality.

“The Human Skeleton in Forensic Anthropology and Medicine workshop in July represents the gold standard of collaboration between our campuses,” said Jennifer Byrnes, an assistant professor of at UH West Oʻahu. “Capitalizing on each campus’s strengths, such as access to known skeletal remains and lab space at the medical school and our UH West Oʻahu land, archaeological expertise and certificate in applied forensic anthropology program and faculty, empowers the UH System to offer a unique training experience to local, mainland and international professionals and students.”

Read the full story at the .

—By Tina Shelton

, a assistant professor of , has been elected to a three-year term as an at-large-director for the , an organization that sets standards for forensic anthropologists.

A board-certified forensic anthropologist, Belcher led UH �±������Oʻahu students on projects excavating the Honouliuli Internment and POW camp in Kunia, and an excavation of a Japanese internment camp that held U.S. and British prisoners on Palau.

• Related: UH West Oʻahu students to excavate World War II internment and execution site in Palau, March 16, 2016

Prior to joining UH �±������Oʻahu, Belcher served as the deputy director of the Department of Defense’s Central Identification Laboratory and director of the Forensic Science Academy.

Belcher also serves as the chair of the Anthropology Consensus Body of the Academy Standards Board, an organization dedicated to developing documentary standards for forensics.

More about the American Board of Forensic Anthropology

The American Board of Forensic Anthropology is based in Washington, D.C., and was established 40 years ago to enhance standards and advance the science of forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropologists use clues from skeletons in assisting medical examiners and coroners with a variety of cases. Directors of the organization are elected by members.

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