Sherylyn Briller

Sherylyn Briller serves as Professor in the Department of Anthropology within Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts, where she has been a faculty member since 2014. She also holds a faculty associate position at the Center on Aging and the Life Course, reflecting her interdisciplinary focus on aging across institutional boundaries.

Her academic foundation includes a Ph.D. and master’s in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, a bachelor’s in sociology and anthropology from Carleton College, and a graduate certificate in gerontology from Case Western Reserve University.

Briller specializes in cultural medical anthropology with research spanning aging, disability, end-of-life issues, and global health. Her cross-cultural gerontology work includes field research in Mongolia and U.S. retirement communities, examining how cultural contexts shape aging experiences and care systems. She integrates anthropological methods with human-centered design to improve dementia care environments and family-clinician collaboration in high-stakes healthcare settings.

Recent scholarship reveals a strong trajectory toward transdisciplinary educational innovation, particularly in convergence education models that bridge anthropology with technology design. Her work systematically analyzes institutional barriers to educational transformation while developing collaborative teaching frameworks for undergraduate innovation education.

Her scholarly recognition includes the College of Liberal Arts Excellence in Engagement Award (2017-18) and Fellowship in the Society for Applied Anthropology.

Briller demonstrates significant leadership through past presidency of the Association for Anthropology and Gerontology Education and co-chairing the Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology Programs. Her major publications include the four-volume series Creating Successful Dementia Care Settings (2001), co-edited volume End-of-Life Stories: Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries (2005), and career development text Designing An Anthropological Career (2009).

Through the Center on Aging and the Life Course, she contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives addressing aging challenges via research-practice partnerships focused on care environments, longitudinal aging studies, and transdisciplinary educational models.