Shelly Uhlir works in the conservation department at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC where she has been staff mount and mannequin maker since 2001. She has collaborated with conservators for over 30 years and has been a TSG and OSG member since 2007. In 2010, she organized the 2nd Biennial International Mountmaking Forum at the Smithsonian Institution. She has authored or co-authored several JAIC published papers on mountmaking and mannequin-related topics. At the 2013 AIC conference, she presented a paper to the TSG on the use of Fosshape in making mannequin extremities. She received her B.A. from Northern Illinois University and has done graduate work at the University of Maryland and the Xi'an Foreign Languages Institute in Xi'an, China.