Michael D. Carrasco

Michael D. Carrasco is Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts and Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at Florida State University. He is internationally recognized for his interdisciplinary scholarship on the Indigenous cultures of the Americas, particularly Mesoamerican art, iconography, and writing systems.

Education: While the text does not list specific degrees, his deep expertise and tenure-track/leadership roles indicate advanced training in art history, anthropology, and digital heritage studies.

Research Interests:

• Indigenous visual cultures of the Americas
• Mesoamerican iconography, epigraphy, and poetics
• Critical heritage studies & digital humanities
• Ethnobotany, foodways, and bioheritage
• Relationships between traditional expressive cultures and the contemporary global art system

His work bridges the humanities and sciences, combining art-historical analysis with digital imaging, archaeometry, and collaborative fieldwork involving botanists, geneticists, archaeologists, and museum professionals. Current projects include books on Maya myth and literature and the co-direction of the Mesoamerican Corpus of Formative Period Art and Writing.

Scientific Awards & Grants:

• Daniel F. Austin Award for Under the Shade of Thipaak
• National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Grant (2021–2023)
• NEH Fellowship (2016–2017)
• CONACYT Fronteras de la Ciencia Grant (Co-PI, 2016–2018)
• CLAIR Furusato Vision Project Grant (2017)

Doctoral & MA Advising: Carrasco has chaired or co-chaired dissertations on topics ranging from the visuality of foodways in post-revolutionary Mexico to colonial cartography and Mixtec codices. Prospective students are encouraged to contact him in advance.

Labs & Teams: He co-directs the Mesoamerican Corpus of Formative Period Art and Writing and has founded multidisciplinary initiatives linking FSU with digital heritage foundations, museums, and international research partners.