Kitty F. Emery, Ph.D., is the Curator of Environmental Archaeology at the FLMNH, where she investigates the ancient relationship between humans and the environments within which they lived. Dr. Emery received her Ph.D. in 1997 from Cornell University and has been with the FLMNH since 2001.

She works in the tropical forests of Central America, using ancient animal and plant remains recovered in archaeological deposits to understand how the ancient Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures used (and sometimes abused) their natural world. Dr. Emery has worked in Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala for 15 years, and is currently studying materials from several Maya sites including Tikal, Copan, Dos Pilas (National Geographic Magazine Feb. 1993), Piedras Negras (NG Aug. 2003), and Aguateca (NG May 2003).