Sarah Parcak's reputation as the modern-day Indiana Jones is fitting.

Parcak is a professor, researcher and innovator who has devoted her life to preserving history. Three decades after the Egyptian city of Tanis was featured in Indiana Jones' first quest, she led a team that analyzed satellite imagery to uncover a map of the city, down to individual streets and homes.

She says the comparison is a bit silly, but if it contributes to raising the public profile of archaeology, it's worth perpetuating.

"Archaeology is a hard field, and we need to get the world more interested," she said. "If Hollywood can help, then by all means. It's the fun part of what I do. If people want to call me Indiana Jones, I say I'm more sites, less stubble."

As a space archaeologist, Parcak's methods are more high-tech and far-reaching than the fictional adventurer's.

She uses infrared satellite imagery to uncover ancient archaeological sites - "Think Google Earth on speed," she said - then uses computer software to process that imagery, scouring landscapes for features that are invisible to the naked eye.

She has discovered 17 lost pyramids, more than 1,000 tombs and more than 3,100 ancient settlements in Egypt.

Thanks to her innovative work, Parcak was awarded the 2016 TED Prize accompanied by a $1 million grant. It goes to an individual with a creative, bold vision to spark global change. Past prizes have been awarded to people dedicated to combating poverty, improving global health and advancing education around the world.

Sites at risk of being 'gone within a generation'

Because of political unrest in the Middle East and widespread looting of historical sites, the stakes are high.

"If we don't do something now to help protect and preserve all of these archaeological sites around the world, they're going to be gone within a generation," Parcak said during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

After the Arab Spring, archaeological sites throughout the region were ransacked, a situation exacerbated by lack of security and ongoing political instability. Those working in Egypt can continue, cautiously, where Parcak's colleagues say security has stabilized and even improved.

Archaeologists in Iraq and Syria have lost access to their life's work virtually overnight. Many have risked life and limb to protect the areas where they have spent their entire careers.

For some, like Khaled al-Asaad, it has been a losing battle. In August, the 82-year-old antiquities scholar was beheaded by Islamic state militants in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.

He remained there despite escalating danger, hoping to curb ISIS's practice of looting and sometimes destroying antiquities. Other items are sold to fund their activities.

Family and friends warned him to leave, but he would not abandon the work he had been devoted to for 50 years, Parcak said. According to several reports, he was killed for refusing to reveal to ISIS the location of several valuable artifacts.

"He died protecting the site," she said. "So many of my friends and colleagues are risking their lives in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, too, protecting sites and protecting temples from looters. So this is very, very serious."

International awards like the TED prize bring attention to the entire field's challenges.

"I am but one of many doing this work, and the people who are in the field doing this every day, I call them the real culture heroes," Parcak said. "I'm just representing them, and if I can - through this prize and through my work - celebrate the great efforts that they're making, that's something that I want to do."

From Bangor to Birmingham to Egypt

Parcak was born and raised in Bangor, Maine. Her grandfather, a forestry professor at the University of Maine, was one of the first to use aerial photography in his field.

"It's been in my family, and he's really the reason I started doing it," she said.

In 2001, Parcak graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in Egyptology and Archaeological, then went on to receive a Ph.D. from Cambridge University.

She took a remote sensing course and combined her newly acquired technological understanding with an enduring love of Egyptian history and culture.

The work begins by purchasing satellite imagery of an area that warrants investigation. Parcak and her colleagues look at maps of the sites before processing the imagery.

Then they go into the field for surveying and on-the-ground excavation. Satellites are vital to the process, but much of the work simply can't be done remotely.

Just 20 years ago, satellite archaeology was a nascent field. Immense gains in recent years have led to an explosion of research across the globe. Parcak said she owes much of her success to a few predecessors, pioneers in a fledgling field.

A decade ago, she proposed the establishment of a remote sensing lab during her job interview in Birmingham and later founded the UAB Laboratory for Global Observation.

Parcak felt like the university was a place where great things were happening, and a series of past victories promised continued success. The support over the years from the administration, colleagues and students has been phenomenal, she said.

She and her husband, fellow Egyptologist Greg Mumford, collaborate on the Surveys and Excavation Projects in Egypt. They have assisted the Department of Homeland Security in undercover investigations aimed at disrupting the multi-billion-dollar global black market for stolen artifacts.

She couldn't be more excited about continuing that work from Birmingham.

"This is a very, very special university in an incredibly special city," she said. "I feel so lucky that my husband and I ended up here. It's a city with an incredibly rich history, a city known for taking risks."

Soon after they moved here, they were made to feel like locals. Now, when friends, family or colleagues visit, they proudly show off the city that welcomed them with open arms.

"On the day that I found out about the TED prize, I went and got Saw's ribs as my celebration meal," she said. "So while I may not be a Southerner, part of me has definitely become a Southerner."

After the TED announcement, UAB President Ray Watts said Parcak is a shining example of the excellence and innovation happening at the university.

"Our campus will be eagerly and proudly watching you on that stage," he told Parcak. "We look forward to the world-changing things you will do with this great opportunity."

Robert Palazzo, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, noted that Parcak is a recognized scholar whose achievements have gained international attention.

"In the College of Arts & Sciences, we pursue the age-old questions: Who are we? Why are we here?" he said. "Archaeology plays a pivotal role in who we were, where we progressed, where we made cataclysmic mistakes, how we recovered."

Though archaeology focuses on ancient history, Parcak has learned about more than towns and tombs.

"The more and more I study, the more I realize we are resilient, we are creative, we are brilliant... that has not changed since we've been human," she said on The Late Show.

The future of space archaeology

In 2009, Parcak wrote the first textbook on satellite archaeology, opening the door for future scientists to advance the field even more. In 2011, her work was spotlighted in a BBC documentary called "Egypt's Lost Cities." In 2012, she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and a TED fellow, and she is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Thanks to funding from several national foundations, she is working to set up programs in Egypt geared toward training the next generation of archaeologists.

"These young men and women are just brilliant," she said. "They're good archaeologists, but they have absolutely no resources to protect sites."

She is collaborating with Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities to enable these young scientists to use open-source tools to document and protect sites. Instead of relying on expensive, complex equipment to conduct that work, they are using practical, portable items like cellphones and discussing innovative solutions.

As far as the TED Prize goes, her lips are sealed until Feb. 16. Both she and the organization have dropped hints of what she hopes to accomplish with the grant.

"It's a wish about the wonders of archaeological discovery and our connection to the past," TED organizers have said.

The threat of further looting and destruction has left archaeology at a tipping point, Parcak said.

"I want to figure out a way to get the world engaged with discovery, to help protect ancient sites," she said.