Mecca Burris
Department of Anthropology
Expert Bio
Mecca Burris is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology. Her training centers in biological anthropology and human biology, with minors in food anthropology and food and nutrition policy. Her research primarily focuses on the environmental contributions to variations in growth and development, with specific interests in the impacts of food insecurity, stress and pesticide exposure.
Using a biocultural approach, her research bridges biological anthropology and the emerging fields of environmental endocrinology, food studies and adolescent health.
Areas of Expertise
Food insecurity (particularly among teens and older adults), adolescence, food and nutrition policy, variation in female pubertal timing (particularly from environmental contributors such as food insecurity/nutrition, stress and pesticide exposure).
Other Information
- Google Scholar
- Teen Food Insecurity: Finding Solutions Through the Voices of Teens
- Hoosier hunger: IU researcher Mecca Burris examines food insecurity close to home
- Sausage of Science podcast: Facing food marginalization with Mecca Burris
- Marginal Food Security Predicts Earlier Age at Menarche Among Girls From the 2009-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys
- Mecca Burris conducts research in Costa Rica