Rate My Professor Medea Csoba DeHass

Medeia Csoba DeHass is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Missouri and a doctoral faculty member at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. She earned M.A. degrees in History and Cultural Anthropology from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Prior to her current position, she served as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Native American Studies Program and the Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College; Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Alaska Native Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage; Associate Professor at Des Moines Area Community College; and Visiting Scientist at the Arctic Remote and Cold Territories Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Northern Iowa. She teaches courses on decolonizing research methodologies, digital heritage preservation, research design, and collaborating with Indigenous communities. For the past two decades, Dr. Csoba DeHass has worked with Alaska Native communities on ethnohistorical and ethnographic projects.

Her research specializations include Indigenous Data Governance, heritage informatics, digital representation of Indigenous peoples and cultures, digital 3D modeling in Alaska Native heritage preservation, and ethical collaboration with Indigenous communities. As Director of the 3D Heritage Informatics Lab in the Department of Geography, she provides hands-on training in 3D documentation methods, photogrammetry, and structured light scanning for heritage preservation. Major awards include the NSF CAREER award (AWD_ID=2042718) supporting research on Indigenous perspectives and applications of digital 3D technologies in preserving Alaska Native heritage in the Bering Strait region in collaboration with Kawerak Inc.'s Social Science Program; internal PI for supplemental funding to MU’s NSF ART:TECH award (AWD_ID=2331258); PI on a National Park Service-funded project to 3D document fossilized redwood stumps at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument; and Lead PI on NSF collaborative award (AWD_ID=2025743). Key publications include "Ethical Considerations in the Use of 3D Technologies to Preserve Indigenous Heritage" (American Antiquity, 2025), "Perspectives on Co-production of Knowledge in Fieldwork Experience for 3D Preservation of Indigenous Heritage" (Museum Worlds, 2025), "3D Heritage Preservation and Indigenous Place-Based Learning in the Arctic" (Polar Geography, 2025), "3D Heritage Preservation & Indigenous Communities in the Circumpolar North" (Arctic Year Book, 2018), and "3D Technology in Collaborative Heritage Preservation" (Museum Anthropology Review, 2018).