Our Team

The Alpine Ecosystem Research Institute is comprised of a dedicated team of researchers who are passionate about understanding the complex relationships between humans, montane ecosystems, and their native species. Our team conducts multi-disciplinary research to promote the conservation and preservation of the alpine ecosystem. We are committed to advancing scientific knowledge, and our team brings together experts from different fields including ecology, geology, climatology, and biology.

Dr. Scott W. Dersam is the Founder, Principal Investigator, and Principal Researcher of the Alpine Ecosystems Research Institute (AERI), formerly the Beartooth Ecosystems Alpine Archaeological Research (BEAAR) Project. Scott holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Montana and an M.A. from the University of Wyoming. Dersam has years of experience in varying forms of archaeological research, spanning the foothills and mountains of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the High Plains, the Great Basin, and Yellowstone National Park. Dersam has taught at the University of Montana, Missoula, and currently teaches at Montana State University, Bozeman, instructing on various archaeological and anthropological topics. He has worked for multiple cultural resource management firms and the USDA Forest Service in Wyoming. Dersam’s field and laboratory research specializes in high-elevation North American hunter-gatherer settlement patterning, alpine occupation duration, spatial statistical modeling, Pleistocene landscapes, and the evolving cultural mountain adaptations of the Rocky Mountains. Scott has supervised public and professional archaeological research efforts in the mountain ranges of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, focusing primarily on the Beartooth Wilderness of Montana since 2018. Dersam’s research has appeared in a special issue of The Journal of Hunter-Gatherer Research (2023), guest edited by Dersam, as well as the National Forest Overview of the Gallatin National Forest (2023).

Sari Dersam M.A., RPA is a Co-Principle Investigator and Researcher for the Alpine Ecosystems Research Institute, formerly the Beartooth Ecosystems Alpine Archaeological Research (BEAAR) Project. Sari is also a Project Manager and GIS Specialist for Cannon Heritage Consultants. Sari has her M.A. in Anthropology and GIS certificate from the University of Wyoming. Her thesis research consisted of a spatial analysis of surface wind patterns and high-elevation site locations in the Beartooth Mountains. Sari specializes in GIS, statistics, and programming in R. She has worked on numerous CRM surveys and research Groups throughout Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and South Dakota. Sari is a member of the Society for American Archaeology and the Montana Archaeological Society.