Dalyn Grindle investigates the relationships between humans and nonhuman animals in order to better understand the roles that humans and human cultural practices play in local and regional ecological processes and the dimetric effects of those on biota. She is a current PhD Candidate at Harvard University's Department of Anthropology, Archaeology Program, and believes that archaeology is an insightful tool to bring time depth to these questions. Under the supervision of Dr. Richard H. Meadow, Dalyn's dissertation project analyzes different manifestations of the elk- (or wapiti; Cervus canadensis/elaphus) human relationship in the Rocky Mountains of North America from a holistic perspective, combining information and methods from several fields (ecology, ethology, and anthropology among others). She compared elk-human relationships across different situations in western Wyoming, including winter feedgrounds, summer range, fall hunting season, and elk in captive settings. She is currently writing her dissertation, evaluating how slight changes in human practice alter the relationship in drastic ways, ultimately questioning the differentiation between hunting and herding. Unique to anthropological studies, she evaluated the role of nonhuman animal behavior in human-nonhuman animal relationships and, unique to ecological studies, she incorporated elk-human relationships from the archaeological record. She is currently works in the Rocky Mountain and Intermountain West of North America, especially in the Wind River Mountains of western Wyoming, where she conducted an ethno- and etho-archaeological research project on elk and elk management. She hopes to utilize her research toward conservation and land management initiatives, where she believes her work would have the greatest impact.