| Department Affiliation | Anthropology |
| Date Elected | 2021 |
| Biographical Information | Chelsea is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology. She joined the department after graduating with a BA in Anthropology from DePaul University and an MS in Maritime Archaeology and Conservation from Texas A&M. Her dissertation research focuses on the relationship between British maritime culture, agroforestry, and the development of port cities in the 18th-century Chesapeake. Trained as both a historical and maritime archaeologist, she combines terrestrial and underwater methods to connect the land and sea. Beyond her dissertation, she works as an archaeobotanist to explore the lifeways of enslaved individuals in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Within the Penn Museum, Chelsea has worked as a Graduate Guide, lectured for both the Daily Dig and Deep Dig programs, helped develop the Creating Academic Museum Professionals program, and served as former President of the Penn Museum Graduate Advisory Council. |
| Recent Publications | 2023 Assemblage Theory and the Mediative Practice of Ship Hull Reuse. In Contemporary Philosophy for Maritime Archaeology: Flat Ontologies, Oceanic Thought, and the Anthropocene, edited by Sara A. Rich and Peter B. Campbell. Sidestone Press, Leiden. Book Reviews 2022 “Richard M. Jones, The 50 Greatest Shipwrecks by Chelsea M. Cohen.” The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord 32, no. 3 (2022): 421–423. |
| Relevant Links | https://anthropology.sas.upenn.edu/people/chelsea-cohen |