Texas Anthropologist Awarded 2026 MacArthur Fellowship
The grant supports forensic work identifying unidentified remains across Texas border counties.
Updated on Oct. 6, 2026 in Social Sciences
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Texas State University anthropology professor Kate Spradley has been awarded a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship. The $800,000 grant recognizes her leadership of Operation Identification, a project focused on identifying human remains in regions lacking medical examiner resources.
Why it matters
The fellowship provides sustained funding for research that addresses a critical lack of forensic infrastructure in Texas, where only 14 of 254 counties employ a medical examiner. This work establishes population-specific reference data essential for forensic identification.
Operation Identification has facilitated the identification of nearly 300 human remains since its 2013 inception. The initiative works across Texas to assist counties that lack formal medical examiner oversight.
The players
Kate Spradley
An anthropology professor at Texas State University known for creating forensic reference standards for Latin American skeletal remains.
Texas State University
The public research institution serving as the academic base for Operation Identification and forensic anthropological research in Texas.
The details
Operation Identification acts as a surrogate forensic system for border counties, facilitating the identification and repatriation of human remains. Spradley developed population-specific reference data—biological models tailored to individuals of Latin American origin—to improve the accuracy of skeletal identification. This approach fills a gap in traditional forensic anthropology, which often relies on reference sets that do not reflect the diversity of the local migrant population.
Timeline
2013: Operation Identification was founded.
September 2026: Previous grant funding for the team expired.
2026: Kate Spradley received a MacArthur Fellowship.
The Tech Race
The MacArthur Foundation Fellowship program identifies high-impact research to provide the financial freedom to scale experimental methodologies. This award marks a significant validation of forensic anthropology within the broader MacArthur cohort of 20 researchers selected for 2026.
The grant enables the expansion of forensic operations for the team, which serves as a critical resource for local families seeking the return of missing loved ones. This funding stabilizes a project that previously faced a resource cliff following the expiration of prior grants.
The takeaway
Spradley's work quantifies a massive gap in public infrastructure where most Texas counties lack the facilities required for forensic identification. Watch for the project's expansion over the next year as the team utilizes the new grant to scale their identification efforts.
Further reading
Explore ongoing Social Sciences research initiatives across the state.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The University Star.
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