Dr. Sarah Parcak, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, TED Fellow and National Geographic Fellow, was named the 2016 TED Prize winner. Each year TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, awards the TED Prize to one exceptional individual with a creative, bold vision to spark global change. The prize asks the recipient to launch a high-impact project, “a wish to change the world.” Winners are awarded $1 million and the resources of TED’s extended global community who are ready to help fulfill the wish.

Parcak uses infrared imagery from satellites to uncover ancient archaeological sites. She gained international attention for satellite mapping all of Egypt and unearthing 17 potential unknown pyramids,1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements. She and her team have since uncovered thousands of additional ancient sites across Europe, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic, and also have used satellite technology to map extensive looting in post-Revolution Egypt.

Parcak hopes to create an online, interactive citizen science platform—to be launched this summer—which will allow anyone to discover ancient sites from space and monitor looting.

“I want the entire world to be able to engage with archaeological discovery,” said Parcak. “We are at a tipping point with our global heritage, and the only way for us to take action now is to allow the world help archaeologists map sites and find looting in weeks instead of months or years. With the TED Prize, we can build the first ever crowdsourced system to find sites and map looting on a large scale. We honor our past by protecting it for the future.”