Dr. Heather McKillop receives 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award from Trent University

 

Dr. Heather McKillop has been selected to receive the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award at Trent University, Canada. She earned her BS and MA in Anthropology at Trent, and later held a prestigious SSHRC (Social Sciences & Humanities of Canada) Postdoctoral Fellowship at Trent. Dr. McKillop holds the Thomas & Lillian Landrum Alumni Professorship in the LSU Department of Geography & Anthropology. With five published books and more than 100 articles in journals and edited volumes, her publications appear in the leading academic journals across the world. Her awards include the 2020 LSU Distinguished Research Master Award; LSU Distinguished Faculty award; and an LSU 2008 Rainmaker Award, among others.

Her studies of ancient Maya coastal adaptations include remarkable underwater investigations at numerous, now submerged, Maya coastal sites; This research focuses on the only ancient Maya wooden buildings submerged by sea-level rise and preserved below the sea floor and the only ancient Maya wooden canoe paddle. She started the DIVA Lab (Digital Imaging and Visualization in Archaeology) in order to 3D digitally preserve and study waterlogged objects. She and her team opened exhibits featuring 3D printed replicas of artifacts in Belize. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 2005.

“Heather’s impact on both Belize and her discipline has been profound and distinguished…. Her research has demonstrated, repeatedly, a high level of vision, originality, and creativity,” a nominator wrote.”