Dr. Peña came to the Art Conservation Department from the Buffalo Museum of Science, where she served as Curator of Anthropological Collections, developing new exhibits and programs while increasing access to the collections for scholars. As a Research Fellow and a member of the Museum’s Science Advisory Committee, she maintains close ties with the Museum, facilitating student projects, exhibits, and research. Dr. Peña also taught in the Anthropology Departments at Buffalo State College and the University at Buffalo, and continues to work with students from both institutions. She has also worked as an archaeologist for the New York State Bureau of Historic Sites at Peebles Island, and has experience with several private cultural resource management firms.

Her current archaeological research centers on Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site, where she has directed several archaeological field school seasons. The research design for the 2004 field season involved the careful examination of an important War of 1812-era feature that will provide information on the transition to American identity at Fort Niagara. Under Dr. Peña’s direction, this project will result in a Ph.D. dissertation for Susan Maguire, a graduate student at the University at Buffalo. Artifacts from the Old Fort Niagara excavations form “fresh” conservation projects for Art Conservation students and the partnership with the Old Fort Niagara Association allows for many opportunities, both in the field and in the lab, as the site begins construction of a new museum/visitors’ center.

Dr. Peña’s research interests include material culture theory, wampum and exchange systems, documentary archaeology, and women and gender in frontier contexts. She has published a number of articles on historical archaeological topics, including “Desire and Distrust: The Paradox of Women at Old Fort Niagara” in New York History, “The Social Organization of a Boardinghouse: Archaeological Evidence from the Buffalo Waterfront” in Historical Archaeology, and several articles on wampum, in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology; People, Places, and Material Things: Historical Archaeology of Albany, New York; and the Encyclopedia of New York State. She has presented papers at numerous professional conferences.

During the summer of 2005, Dr. Peña worked at the Old Fort Niagara Field school for the month of June. Please visit the Archaeology Field School website to see current photos of the dig and learn more about future projects at the site.