Laurie is an Associate Professor in the UGA department of Anthropology and the Director of the UGA Bioarchaeology and Biochemistry Laboratory. Laurie studies human diet as a link between biology, culture and environment, focusing on stable isotope analysis of archaeological human skeletal remains. Her bioarchaeological work is informed by ties to human biology and primatology. She chiefly works with European skeletal samples, and also uses stable isotope analysis to study diet and stress among modern humans and non-human primates.