Lee Rains Clauss is an archaeologist and advocate for Native American communities' sovereignty and stewardship of cultural resources. She has 15 years of experience in historic preservation law and federal regulatory compliance, with a broad theoretical and technical background that also includes architectural history, Tribal heritage management, curation, and community-based participatory research. Her degrees include a B.S. in Historic Preservation from Southeast Missouri State University and a M.A. in Anthropology with an emphasis in Applied Archaeology from Northern Arizona University. Clauss currently works as a consultant for the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo in California and was previously employed as the Historic Preservation Specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina; a Tribal Historic Preservation Office intern/assistant for the White Mountain Apache in Arizona and; a curation and NAGPRA fellow for the US Army Corps of Engineers Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections (MCX-CMAC). She also teaches courses in Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, Native American History and Culture, and Tribal and Ethnic Religions. Clauss is actively involved in the Society for American Archaeology and recently served as the chair of the Government Affairs Committee. In 2014, Left Coast Press published her co-edited volume, Transforming Archaeology: Activist Practices and Prospects.