Project: Historical and Palaeoecology of Arctic Fox.

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Bio

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Alex was drawn to Trent to expand her skill set by combining her background in zooarchaeology with stable isotope analysis. Her research focuses on investigating the foraging ecology of arctic foxes in the archaeological past and whether this was influenced by human subsistence practices. A seasoned veteran in the lab, Alex has infinite fond TEAL memories, namely teaching her TEAL colleagues about crow attack season in Vancouver, and most importantly, when Rachel surprised her with matching Dolly Parton Christmas sweaters for the 2025 TEAL holiday party. This past year, Alex is proud of the papers she has published, learning to make maps in QGIS (earning Paul’s praises!), and how the environmental archaeology course she teaches has turned out. Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys reading, telling people about the difference between en dashes and em dashes, attending acting classes, getting bubble tea and shawarma with the TEAL manager, Rachel, creative writing, going to Chapters, Winners, and Costco with Rachel, and watching early 2000s rom-coms. In the year ahead, Alex hopes to find a red velvet tuxedo blazer, and to make enough money to buy fresh produce when it’s not on sale as well as a duplex to share with Rachel. Alex does not feel she has any areas of improvement, however, Rachel notes that Alex needs to improve her observation skills, as she did not notice when Rachel cut her bangs for at least three weeks. On top of her expertise in zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis, Alex has also formed a zucchini pyramid scheme with her TEAL colleagues. In the chemical sciences building, there is a free zucchini area (shoutout Angela) with a limit of one per person. Because of this, Alex has recruited fellow TEAL members to collect zucchinis for her, and has utilized her professional acting skills to pretend it was her first time in the free zucchini area. Alex gives back to her recruits by making zucchini bread and bringing it into the lab to share. Alex also hates soup. Bio by Lauren Campbell. 

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TEAL Publications

• Chou E, Brown G, Brook RW, Derian AA*, Szpak P. 2026. Natal den prey delivery of Arctic and red fox in relation to landscape patterns in food availability. Arctic Science. doi:10.1139/as-2026-0028.

• Hall O, Derian AY, Rausch A, McCuaig J, Szpak P. 2026. Documenting the extent of intra-bone isotopic variation. Journal of Archaeological Science 188, 106521. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2026.10652. [DOWNLOAD .pdf]

• Derian AAY, Pawlowski R, Szpak P, 2025. Solubilization of skin collagen improves the accuracy and reliability of stable isotope measurements. PeerJ 13, e20152. doi:10.7717/peerj.20152. [DOWNLOAD .pdf]

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TEAL Awards and Honours

🥈 2023 Lab Olympics Silver Medal: Bone Cutting

🏆 2023 Best Sample Replicate (with 2022-23 Graduate Class)

🏆 2023 Best Sample Analytical Session (with 2022-23 Graduate Class)

🥈 2024 Lab Olympics Silver Medal: Pipette Transfer

🏆 2024 Best Sample CNS Analytical Session

🏆 2024 Best CNS Sample Replicate

🏆 2024 Early Worm Award

🏆 2024 Lowest δ34S Value

🥇 2025 Lab Olympics Gold Medal: Microbalance Accuracy & Precision

🥇 2025 Lab Olympics Gold Medal: Bone Cutting

🥉 2025 Lab Olympics Bronze Medal: Microbalance Speed

🏆 2025 Best CNS Sample Replicate

🏆 2025 Lowest δ15N Value

🏆 2025 Highest δ15N Value

🥇 2026 Lab Olympics Gold Medal: Bone Cutting

🥇 2026 Lab Olympics Gold Medal: Pipette Transfer