Karen R. Burns, Ph.D.

Karen Ramey Burns was a forensic anthropologist. Kar usually taught at the University of Georgia, but was also a Fulbright Scholar at the University of the Andes in Bogota. She also taught human osteology and forensic anthropology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. In addition, Kar was a participant in the recovery and identification of human remains in criminal and human rights investigations. She authored the Forensic Anthropology Training Manual (1999, 2007), and she co-authored Amelia Earhart’s Shoes, Is the Mystery Solved? (2001). In the Niku project, Kar’s main interest was in the scientific aspects of human decomposition and recovery in the Pacific atoll environment.

Dr. Burns died on 7 January 2012.

• Member of several expeditions:
  • Niku IIII
  • Niku V