2023 Lecture Series: Keynote Ella Al-Shamahi

Ella Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, paleoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist, stand-up comic, TV personality, and author of The Handshake. She will present the keynote talk “Exploring Dangerous Places” at 7 p.m. on April 4 at Kingsbury Hall. Al-Shamahi specializes in Neanderthals, caves, and expeditions in hostile, disputed, and dangerous territories. From heading up exploratory expeditions to joining cave excavations, the conditions can be unusual, from avoiding landmines to wearing a burqa for security reasons. She almost exclusively works in places it is hard to get insurance, such as Iraq, Yemen, Nagorno-Karabakh, and places she can’t publicly admit to.