Todd Fenton
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory
An expert in forensic anthropology.
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Dr. Todd Fenton is a board-certified forensic anthropologist. His research interests focus on the analysis of skeletal trauma as well as techniques in human identification. He is the Director of the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, a laboratory that provides forensic services to medical examiner offices and law enforcement agencies across the state of Michigan. Over the past decade (2008-present), he has consulted on over 500 forensic anthropology cases, including positive identification of ... unidentified human remains, human skeletal analysis, trauma analysis, human vs. nonhuman bone, and field search and recovery cases. He recently completed his third National Institute of Justice funded research project titled “Building a Science of Cranial Fracture" with co-PIs Roger Haut and Feng Wei. His NIJ grants have focused on understanding the biomechanics of cranial fracture, including fracture initiation, propagation and patterning. Additionally, the effects of energy level, interface compliance, impactor shape, and head drops versus entrapped impacts have been investigated. Dr. Fenton is also research-active in bioarchaeology, and has ongoing, long-term collaborative projects in Italy. His current research at the Roman site of Roselle investigates the health of the human skeletons and the possible presence of malaria. This project is a collaboration with Dr. Mariagrazia Celuzza, Direttore del Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma, Grosseto, Italy; and Dr. Elsa Pacciani and Dr. Alessandro Riga, Laboratorio di Archeoantropologia - SABAP-FI Scandicci, Italy. His newest project is the Impero Archaeological Project based in Paganico, Italy (Tuscany) directed by Dr. Alessandro Sebastiani of the University at Buffalo, Department of Classics. For this Roman and medieval archaeological research initiative and field school, Dr. Fenton direct the human osteology component.
Read MoreEducation
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona,: Ph.D., Anthropology | 1998
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona,: M.A, Anthropology | 1988
Selected Press
Mari Isa: Good bones
MSU Today | 2017-03-30
I started at MSU as an undergraduate. That fall, I took my first anthropology class, Biocultural Evolution, and began working in the Nubian Bioarchaeology Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Todd Fenton. Needless to say, I was hooked. Six years later, I am serving as the laboratory manager in the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory...
MSU research on how skulls fracture could impact child abuse cases
Lansing State Journal | 2015-07-06
The years that Todd Fenton, Roger Haut and their research team spent smashing infant pig skulls in a lab at Michigan State University could change the way forensic scientists interpret skull fractures in children and the way they determine what's child abuse and what's not...
'Fracture' prints, not fingerprints, help solve child abuse cases
MSU Today | 2015-05-07
Roger Haut, a University Distinguished Professor in biomechanics, and Todd Fenton, a forensic anthropologist, have now proven this theory false. They've found that a single blow to the head not only causes one fracture, but may also cause several, unconnected fractures in the skull. Additionally, they’ve discovered that not all fractures start at the point of impact – some actually may begin in a remote location and travel back toward the impact site...