Baker 'Texan of the Year' Finalist

Each year a select number of Texans “who [have] had uncommon impact over the past year” are nominated for The Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year. In 2014, Baylor Associate Professor of Anthropology and Forensic Anthropologist Lori Baker, PhD, was selected as one of only nine finalists for the title.

Baker received the honor in recognition of her work in South Texas with the Reuniting Families Project, which she launched in 2003. Along with a team of Baylor students, she has recovered more than 170 bodies of illegal immigrants buried near the U.S.-Mexico border since 2012. She and her team hope to identify the remains in order to offer closure to their families back home.

According to The Dallas Morning News, “Baker’s efforts to provide just one more of those mothers with answers, and perhaps even the remains of her child, puts this DNA detective on our list of finalists.”

Baker’s work in the dirt and heat of South Texas is not only arduous, but it also requires significant patience. Of the 170 bodies she and her student team have recovered, only two have been conclusively identified. However, the opportunity to provide closure for families missing their loved ones makes this long and difficult project worthwhile for Baker.

“I feel driven by my faith to do the work I do,” Baker told the Los Angeles Times. “These are all people. Their families deserve to know what happened to them, and they deserve human dignity.”

Hope grows on the horizon, however, as the Mexican government recently agreed to provide hundreds of DNA profiles from families who want to find out if their missing loved ones can be identified in the recovered remains. The frequent and positive media attention Baker and the project have received is also beneficial. As a finalist for Texan of the Year, Baker was selected for the honor out of more than 700 nominations.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by this recognition,” Baker said. “We are very passionate about restoring human dignity to those without identity. It is immeasurably gratifying to have such a show of support from fellow Texans for our group’s efforts. I am also fortunate to be at Baylor where I am encouraged to allow my faith to influence my scientific endeavors.”