Lauren’s current research explores kinship and relatedness in Late Shang China (ca. 1200-1050 B.C.E) by using bioarchaeological and archaeological data and methods. She is especially interested in how the sociological life course approach can be incorporated into archaeological mortuary analyses, providing new ways to advance research of age and gender. Currently, she is a seasonal field and lab osteologist at the World Heritage Site of Anyang, China, where she specializes in excavation and analysis of subadult human remains, as well as trains undergraduate and graduate researchers and field staff in osteological methods.

Prior to starting the Ph.D. program at UChicago, Lauren earned degrees in Anthropology and Chinese from UW-Madison before working in archaeological collections at the Wisconsin State Historical Society. She has interned in exhibit design at the Madison Children’s Museum, and in bioarchaeological analysis at the Field Museum. She has participated in survey, excavation and lab research on archaeological sites in New Mexico, Turkey, and multiple provinces in China in partnership with University of Chicago, Barnard University, the Oriental Institute, the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Shandong University, University of British Columbia, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.