Janna M. Andronowski

Janna M. Andronowski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at The University of Akron. She received her B.A. and B.Sc. from Simon Fraser University, M.Sc. from the University of Toronto, Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and was a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Saskatchewan.

As a biological anthropologist and anatomist, Dr. Andronowski’s interests are in skeletal biology from a microscopic (histomorphological) perspective and its application to human anatomy, human health, and forensic anthropology. A significant emphasis of Dr. Andronowski’s research program is the study of cortical bone remodeling through the imaging of cortical porosity. Her research increasingly capitalizes on opportunities afforded by synchrotron radiation at the BioMedical Imaging and Therapy beamlines at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron facility. Recent projects have further leveraged imaging techniques ranging from microscopy (brightfield, fluorescence, and confocal laser scanning), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution 3D imaging modalities such as desktop micro-CT (μCT) as well as synchrotron radiation-based micro-Computed Tomography (SRμCT).

Dr. Andronowski has over ten years of experience working in forensic science-based laboratories (e.g., the Forensic Anthropology Unit at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York City, Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Forensic Research, and the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville). She has also taught a variety of courses and provided public outreach lectures in aspects of forensic science to a diverse audience including law enforcement, undergraduate and graduate students, death investigators, high school students, and forensic scientists.

Dr. Andronowski is a Member of the Anthropology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), The Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, and The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. She is the 2019-2020 recipient of the AAFS Anthropology Section’s Ellis R. Kerley Research Award for her work on the prolonged effects of opioid use on bone remodeling.