Contact Information
Davenport Hall, 209J
607 S Mathews Ave.
M/C 148
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Hours
Biography
As a National Geographic Explorer, Laura's research focuses on the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens, as a background to understanding recent human diversity. She has a geographic focus in Southeast Asia and co-directs ongoing field research in northern Laos. Her team's excavations have recovered early modern humans dating back 70,000 years at Tam Pa Ling, Laos. More recently, her team's research at Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra Cave), Laos, recovered the first evidence of the elusive Denisovan population in Southeast Asia.
In addition to ongoing excavations in Southeast Asia, Laura's research explores virtual reality and technology in education to make human prehistory and archaeological field work accessible to more students.
Laura splits her time between Anthropology, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the Game Studies & Design program. In the College of Medicine, she teaches human anatomy to first and second year medical students and works with advanced medical students on research to answer clinical and anatomical questions and explore innovative approaches to health care. In the GSD program, she researches gameful pedagogy and game-based learning and teaches about the use and ethics of extended reality.
Research Interests
Paleoanthropology, Southeast Asia, Late Pleistocene human evolution, functional anatomy, postcranial biomechanics; virtual reality, extended reality, educational technology
Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, 2005
M.A., Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, 2001
B.S., Biological Anthropology & Anatomy, Duke University, 1998
Grants
2025 Provost's Initiative on Teaching Advancement (PITA) grant, UIUC Teaching Advancement Board and Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. "Advancing Education in Health Equity through Immersive VR-Based Training for Social Determinants of Health Screening in Health Professions Curricula." PI: Park G. Co-PIs: Bradley J, Archey J, Shackelford L, Carpenter K, Kim E, Jamison S, Vogel M, Thompson C, Jones K.
2025 Faculty Retreat Grant, UIUC Teaching Advancement Board and Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. "Facilitating student learning of complex clinical cases through the integration of foundational and clinical sciences using virtual reality immersive experiences." PI: Hegazy S. Co-PIs: Shackelford L, Jamison S.
2023-2024 Leakey Foundation: The Denisovans and their past environment in mainland Southeast Asia: Tam Ngu Hao 2 cave, Laos (PI: Demeter, co-PI: Shackelford)
2020-present NSF #2021460: IUSE: Game-based learning in virtual reality to engage college students using wheelchairs: Test case for field training in archaeology (PI: Shackelford, co-PI: Huang)
2018-2020 National Geographic: Quest for human origins in mainland Southeast Asia: Tam Pa Ling cave, Laos
2019 ILLINOIS SBSRI. Life history and hormones: mechanisms linking childhood experiences to women's health (Clancy K, Shackelford L, Lara-Cinisomo S)
2017-2020 NSF #1736235: EXP: Social science education through virtual reality simulation of an archaeological research site
2017-2019 Wenner-Gren: Early modern human evolution and dispersal in mainland Southeast Asia at Tam Pa Ling cave, Laos (PI: Demeter, co-PI: Shackelford)
2016 Illinois Learning Sciences Design Initiative Phase II Grant. Digital Archaeology: Virtual reality in social science education.
2015 Illinois Learning Sciences Design Initiative Seed Funding. Teaching and Learning in the three-dimensional world
Courses Taught
Anthropology:
ANTH 435 The Neandertal Debate
ANTH 444, 445 Human Anatomy I & II
ANTH 456 Human Osteology
Informatics & Game Studies and Design Program:
GSD 290 VRchaeology
GSD 490 Virtual Reality Across Industries
INFO 510 Research Practicum
Carle Illinois College of Medicine:
BSE 601 Human Anatomy, Systems-Based Curriculum
BSE 720 Elective: Advanced Anatomy
BSE 738 Elective: Advanced Anatomy for Teaching
BSE 737 Elective: Exploring Anatomy Through the Virtual Lens
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Dept. of Anthropology (8/2021–present)
Associate Head, Dept. of Anthropology (8/2026–)
Professor, Dept. of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, Carle Illinois College of Medicine (2021–present)
Health Innovation Professor, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, UIUC (8/2022–present)
Director of Foundational Sciences Education, Carle Illinois College of Medicine (2023–26)
Education Theme Co-lead, Center for Immersive Computing (IMMERSE), Grainger College of Engineering (4/2023–present)
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences (2020–present)
Faculty Affiliate, Dept. of Informatics (2019–present)
Faculty Affiliate, Game Studies & Design Program (2021–present)
Faculty Affiliate, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (1/2026–present)
External Links
Recent Publications
Ibrahim W, Swigart J, Shackelford L, Jones E. 2026. Assessment-Driven Learning: Using a redesigned table test in the anatomy lab. Anatomical Science Education, accepted, in revision.
Lim M, Ibrahim W, Shackelford L. 2026. Bridging Anatomy Curricular Gaps: Leveraging student-created video resources in elective courses. Clinical Anatomy 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.70118
Grannie C, Dhore T, Kostolansky A, Oke S, Shackelford L, Ibrahim W, Swigart J. 2026. Anatomy outreach to high school students: early engagement in healthcare careers through student-led program [poster presentation] at IAMSE 2026 Annual Meeting, Augusta, GA.
Lim M, Shackelford L, Ibrahim W. 2025. Exploring Muscles of Facial Expression with Virtual Reality [poster presentation] at IAMSE 2025 Annual Meeting, Calgary, Canada.
Lim M, Shackelford L, Ibrahim W. 2025. Exploring Muscles of Facial Expression with Virtual Reality [poster presentation] at the ACS Surgical Simulation Summit, Chicago, IL.
Ibrahim W, Swigart J, Shackelford L, Jones E. 2025. Assessment-Driven Learning: Using a redesigned table test in the anatomy lab [poster presentation] at IAMSE 2025 Annual Meeting, Calgary, Canada.
Ibrahim W, Swigart J, Shackelford L, Jones E. 2025. Assessment-Driven Learning: Using a redesigned table test in the anatomy lab. Anat Sci Educ 18:1-175. Poster presented at Anatomy Connected meeting, 2025, Portland, OR. https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.70046
McAllister-Hayward MS, Blyth AJ, McInerney FA, Holman AI, et al., Shackelford L, Demeter F, Morley MW. 2024. Reconstructing the environmental conditions experienced by early modern humans at Tam Pa Ling (northeast Laos) using higher plant wax biomarkers. Quaternary Science Reviews 325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108471
Rangarajan S, Shackelford L, Ibrahim W. 2024. A unique representation of bilateral accessory maxillary ostia in a cadaver: a case report and review of literature [poster presentation] at CI MED Health and Innovation Research Day Conference, Urbana, IL.
Lauinger A, Bowman C, Prince J, Ibrahim W, Bellafiore F, Shackelford L. 2024. Omental and mesenteric abnormalities in peritoneal carcinomatosis: A cadaver case report [poster presentation] at MedEx Conference, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Urbana, IL.
Lauinger A, Bowman C, Prince J, Ibrahim W, Shackelford L. 2024. Omental and mesenteric abnormalities in peritoneal carcinomatosis: A cadaver case report. Annual Meeting of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists, New York, NY.
Bacon A-M, Bourgon N, Dufour E, Demeter F, Zanolli C, et al., Shackelford L, Hublin J-J. 2023. Palaeoenvironments and hominin evolutionary dynamics in southeast Asia. Scientific Reports 13, 16165. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43011-2
Freidline S, Westaway K, Joannes-Boyau R, Duringer P, Ponche J-L, et al., Shackelford L, Demeter F. 2023. Early presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia by 86-68 kyr at Tam Pa Ling, Northern Laos. Nature Comm. 14, 3193. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38715-y
Demeter, F., Zanolli, C., Westaway, K. E., et al., Shackelford, L. (2022). A Middle Pleistocene Denisovan molar from the Annamite Chain of northern Laos. Nature communications, 13(1), Article 2557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29923-z
[View all publications on Illinois Experts]