Dr. Passalacqua received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State University in 2012 and was certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology in 2016. Dr. Passalacqua is an Assistant Professor and the Forensic Anthropology Program Coordinator at Western Carolina University. Prior to arriving at WCU, he worked as a deploying forensic anthropologist with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency – Laboratory in Oahu, Hawaii.

Dr. Passalacqua is a co-founder and a current co-editor of the journal Forensic Anthropology. He is also currently a board member of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, the chair of the Anthropology Consensus Body of the Academy Standards Board, and a member of the Anthropology sub-committee of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees.

Dr. Passalacqua co-authored the award-winning textbook: Forensic anthropology: Current methods and practice, as well as the books: Ethics and professionalism in forensic anthropology, and A laboratory manual for forensic anthropology. Dr. Passalacqua also has numerous publications in such journals as: Forensic Anthropology, The American Journal of Physical Anthropology, The International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, and The Journal of Forensic Sciences, as well as chapters in such books as: Skeletal trauma analysis: Case studies in context, The analysis of burned human remains, Age estimation of the human skeleton, and A companion to forensic anthropology.