Stephen Acabado is a professor of anthropology at UCLA. He is a strong advocate of engaged archaeology, in which descendant communities are involved throughout the research process. His archaeological investigations in Ifugao, in the northern Philippines, have established the recent origins of the Cordillera Rice Terraces, which were once thought to be at least 2,000 years old. His research focuses on agricultural systems, Indigenous responses to colonialism, subsistence shifts, landscape archaeology and heritage conservation. He directs two archaeological projects in the Philippines: the Ifugao Archaeological Project and the Bicol Archaeological Project. He earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a B.A. in anthropology from the University of the Philippines Diliman.