James Keppeler is currently a PhD student in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology exploring digital and imaging applications in the archaeology of the Philippines. In digital archaeology, James has worked in the application of 3D digitization methods for archaeological research and cultural heritage preservation. In the Philippines, James is interested in in the origin of agriculture, specifically in the mode by which the practice was introduced to the archipelago.

James completed his BA in Classics from the University of Minnesota in 2018, where he studied the effects of cultural creolization in the Roman province of Dacia. For his Master of Science degree in Archaeological Science at the University of Tübingen, James conducted a geometric morphometric analysis on a number of mummified heads from ancient Egypt in order to test for biological continuity at the site of Gebel Abusir.