Biography
Todd Fenton (Ph.D. University of Arizona) is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University. He has been a faculty member at MSU since 1998. Dr. Fenton is a practicing forensic anthropologist whose research focuses on human skeletal trauma, the identification of human remains in the medicolegal death investigation, and the bioarchaeology of Roman and Medieval human skeletons in Italy. His career highlights include serving as Department Chair of Anthropology for 5 and a half years from 2019 through 2024. Previous to that, he had a long stint as the Director of the MSU Forensic Anthropology Laboratory. During his career his research has been funded by three National Institute of Justice grants, the last of which was titled “Building a Science of Adult Cranial Fracture”. His NIJ grants have focused on understanding the biomechanics of cranial and long bone fracture, including fracture initiation, propagation, and patterning. As a consulting forensic anthropologist, he has worked on over 500 forensic cases for medical examiner offices and law enforcement agencies from the state of Michigan. Dr. Fenton’s current bioarchaeological research focuses on the archaeological site of Rusellae located in southern Tuscany, Italy, where he investigates the Roman and Medieval human skeletons and serves as Associate Director of the interdisciplinary IMPERO project directed by Dr. Sandro Sebastiani from the University at Buffalo. When asked what his proudest accomplishment has been during his career at MSU, without hesitation Dr. Fenton states that it has been the opportunity to work with and guide his many outstanding PhD students.
Works
Select Recent Publications
*2025 Devota CJ, ‡Watson E, ‡Leah V, Isaac CV, Cornelison JB, Fenton TW. Human Identification by Comparative Medical Radiography: A Validation Study of the Lateral Foot. Forensic Anthropology, Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/fa.2024.0008
*2025 Sony R, Isaac CV, VanBaarle A, Devota CJ, Fenton TW, Hefner JT, Ross R. Automatic Comparative Chest Radiography using Deep Neural Networks. IEEE Access, January 2, 2025. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3525579
2024 Celuzza, Mariagrazia and Fenton TW. Il complesso episcopale di Roselle: fasi e cronologia. Nascita e sviluppo dei complessi episcopali tra Liguria Marittima e Tuscia settentrionale, eds. Silvia Lusuardi Siena Giuseppina Legrottaglie. Centro Studi Lunensi Quaderni, 2024.
*2023 Celuzza, Mariagrazia, ‡Watson, E.O., ‡Goots, A.C., Isa, M., Beatrice, J.S., Streetman, E.R., and Fenton, T.W. Late Antique and Early Medieval Rusellae: Archaeology and Anthropology of the Cemetery of the Episcopal Church. Archaeological Landscapes of Late Antique and Early Medieval Tuscia. MediTo – Archaeological and Historical Landscapes of Mediterranean Central Italy. Brepols.
*2023 Isa MI, Fenton TW, ‡Goots AC, ‡Watson EO, Vaughan PE, and Wei F. Effects of Input Energy and Impactor on Cranial Fracture Patterns. Forensic Science International. Volume 352, November 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2023.111859
*2022 ‡Goots A, Isa MI, Fenton TW, Wei F. Blunt force trauma in the human mandible: An experimental investigation. Forensic Science International: Reports. Volume 5, July 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsir.2021.100252
*2021 ‡Isa MI, Fenton TW, ‡Antonelli, LS, Vaughan P, Wei F. Investigating Reverse Butterfly Fractures: An Experimental Approach and Application of Fractography. Forensic Science International 325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110899
*2020 ‡Beatrice, J., Fenton, T.W., ‡Isaac, C.V., ‡Jenny,L., ‡Wankmiller, J., ‡Mutolo, M., ‡Rauzi, C., and Foran, D. The human skeletons from the Triconch Palace and the Merchant’s House. In Bowden W, ed. Butrint 5: Life and Death at a Mediterranean Port: The Non-Ceramic Finds from the Triconch Palace,. Oxbow Books, Series: Butrint Archaeological Monographs, Volume 5.2.
2019 ‡Soler, A., ‡Isaac, C., ‡Beatrice, J. and Fenton T.W. The Human Skeletons from the Vrina Plain. In Greenslade S, ed. Butrint 6: Excavations on the Vrina Plain Volume 2: The Finds. Oxbow Books, Series: Butrint Archaeological Monographs, Volume 6.2.
*2019 ‡Isa MI, Fenton TW, ‡Goots AC, ‡Watson EO, Vaughan PE, Wei F. Experimental investigation of cranial fracture initiation in blunt human head impacts. Forensic Science International 300:51- 62.
*2018 ‡Isa MI, Fenton TW, DeLand T, and Haut RC. Assessing impact direction in 3-point bending of human femora: incomplete butterfly fractures and fracture surfaces. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 63, Issue 1, January 2018. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13521
*2018 Christensen AM, Hefner JT, Smith MA, Webb JB, Bottrell MC, and Fenton TW. Forensic Fractography of Bone: A new approach to skeletal trauma analysis. Forensic Anthropology Volume 1, No. 1.
*2017 ‡Streetman E. and Fenton T.W. Comparative Medical Radiography: Practice and Validation. In Latham K, Bartelink E, Finnegan M, eds. New Perspectives in Forensic Human Skeletal Identification, eds. Elsevier, Oxford.
*2017 Wei F, Bucak SS, ‡Vollner JM, Fenton TW, Jain A, and Haut RC. Classification of Porcine Cranial Fracture Patterns Using a Fracture Printing Interface. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 62, Issue 1, January 2017, Pages: 30–38. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13231
*2016 Vaughan P, ‡Vogelsberg C, ‡Vollner J, Fenton TW, Roger C. Haut. The Role of Interface Shape on the Impact Characteristics and Cranial Fracture Patterns Using the Immature Porcine Head Model. Accepted for publication in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 61, No. 5, September 2016.
*2015 DeLand TS, ‡Niespodziewanski E, Fenton TW, Haut RC. The Role of Interface on the Impact Characteristics and Cranial Fracture Patterns Using the Immature Porcine Head Model. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 61: S53–S59. doi:10.1111/1556-4029.12939.
*2015 ‡Niespodziewanski E, Stephan CN, Guyomarc’h, P, and Fenton TW. Human Identification via Lateral Patella Radiographs: A Validation Study. Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 61: 134–140. doi:10.1111/1556-4029.12898.
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