Fy2015 Perot Museum Impact Report

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Fy2015 Perot Museum Impact Report Together, we will embolden young minds to become the explorers, innovators and problem-solvers for the next generation. 4 REAL SCIENCE 10 INCREASING ACCESS AND DEEPENING COMMUNITY IMPACT 12 FINANCIAL AID 14 FY15 STATS: BUILDING ON OUR ONGOING MOMENTUM 16 FINANCIALS 18 LOOKING AHEAD 19 BOARD OF DIRECTORS 20 THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS 2 | 2015 YEAR IN REVIEW The Perot Museum of Nature and Science has enjoyed The year 2015 was pivotal for your Museum: one of great momentum in its first three years to become discovery and decision making, introspection and the most visited cultural attraction in the Dallas-Fort inspiration, growth and gratitude. These themes — Worth region, with a guest satisfaction rating that is woven through the pages of this annual report — came second highest in the nation. The Museum earned to life through innovative programs, key partnerships the highest field trip and outreach penetration and visionary plans initiated during the fiscal year, and fostered the largest professional development and through you. Your extraordinary support and program for teachers of any North Texas science guidance has empowered us to continue inspiring the provider. News coverage of Museum programs in visionaries of tomorrow. Together, we will embolden 2015 exceeded 2,500 online mentions with nearly young minds to become the explorers, innovators and 200 unique stories in print publications and on TV problem-solvers for the next generation. and radio. Approximately 1.1 million guests from around the world walked through our glistening With your enthusiastic support, the future of the front doors last year to explore and to be inspired. Perot Museum is bright indeed. Thank you for helping us change the way tomorrow’s leaders find theirs. However, with tremendous success comes the responsibility to protect and grow opportunities for the future. Guided by rigorous evaluation and thoughtful assessment, the Board of Directors implemented an ambitious strategic plan in 2015 to serve as a roadmap for furthering the Museum’s JOHN JAGGERS mission to inspire minds through nature and science. Chair, Board of Directors The plan defines core “centers of excellence” around which the Museum will build its future exhibits, programming, outreach and community engagement to position the Perot Museum as a national leader in science education. Key to the plan is engaging the community — particularly underserved COLLEEN WALKER populations — in creative ways, through purposeful The Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer partnerships, best-in-class technology and focused marketing. Put simply, we want to provide access to real science for as much of the community as possible in meaningful ways. PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE | 3 REAL SCIENCE “Thanks to the support of the Explorers Club and the Mamont Foundation, I think we have hit the tip of an exciting paleontological ‘iceberg.’” —DR. TONY FIORILLO IN THE FIELD WITH DR. ANTHONY FIORILLO In order to understand our world, we first need His second excursion came about when Fiorillo to understand how we got here. Perot Museum became the fi rst winner of the $100,000 Foundation research programs focus on bringing that journey Mamont — Explorers Club World Exploration Challenge to light. For nearly 20 years in his career as a Grant. This was by far the most remote research site vertebrate paleontologist, Dr. Anthony (Tony) Fiorillo to which Fiorillo has traveled. The grant took the has escaped the Texas summer heat on an Arctic team to an area never before explored for dinosaurs — excursion. In the summer of 2015, Fiorillo had the an area that served as a gateway between North good fortune to go on two separate journeys to America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period, that explore two very different regions of Alaska. last window of time when giant dinosaurs roamed the Earth. More research in this area could provide a His first excursion took him up the famous James deeper understanding of the dinosaur fauna of these Dalton Highway to the North Slope — a place of two continents. And, in time, the discoveries made by uncharted territory for Fiorillo and his team, and a Fiorillo and his team could prove to be the keys that place with a strong scientific reason to be explored. unlock even more insights. 4 | REAL SCIENCE FOSSIL CLAMS — CONFIRMATION THAT H2O IN RIVERS WHERE DINOSAURS LIVED RAN CLEAR RATHER THAN SILTY FOSSIL WOOD — PROVING LANDSCAPE WAS ONCE COVERED BY CONIFERS, NOT BIG, LEAFY TREES A HIKE IN THE BROOKS RANGE SEARCHING FOR FOSSILS PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE | 5 THE FOSSIL UNCOVERED IN AN ELLIS COUNTY SAND AND GRAVEL PIT WHERE IT HAS LAIN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS ELLIE MAY INSTALLED IN HER PERMANENT HOME ON LEVEL 2 OF THE MUSEUM THE EXCAVATION TEAM PREPARING TO FLIP THE FOSSIL FOSSIL PREPARATOR RORY LEAHY IN THE PALEO LAB NEW DISCOVERY — “ELLIE MAY” COLUMBIAN MAMMOTH In the summer of 2014, an incredibly pristine and at the Perot Museum has truly been an undertaking. nearly complete Mammuthus columbi (Columbian Her discovery, preservation, mounting in Colorado, mammoth) skeleton was excavated from a gravel and fi nally, return home to Texas is not only a story pit in Ellis County, Texas and generously donated of success through the investment of our community, to the Museum by the McEwen family. Ranging from but also a labor of love by a hard-working Museum 20,000-60,000 years old and 8-9 feet tall at the team. The remarkable fossil made its debut to the shoulder, this new discovery was affectionately public in November 2015, and has been preserved named “Ellie May” having been unearthed in Ellis for scientifi c research and study. It will continue to County in the month of May. Ellie May’s record- play a vital role in inspiring minds through nature breaking 18-month journey from discovery to display and science for generations to come. 6 | REAL SCIENCE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE! SPEAKER SERIES — PHOTOGRAPHER PAUL NICKLEN: POLAR OBSESSION PRESENTED BY CHARLES SCHWAB & CO, INC. Behind every great National Geographic story is global awareness about wildlife issues through his a great storyteller. In partnership with National work. Nicklen has spent a lifetime honing the skills Geographic Live!, the Perot Museum was able to needed to photograph wildlife in the world’s most bring the National Geographic experience to global remote places, shooting stunning and intimate audiences, while celebrating how the power of science, images of Arctic creatures most will never encounter exploration and storytelling can change the world. in their lifetime. Through his passion, talent and humor, Nicklen shared a personal perspective on the The Museum launched the speaker series with Paul fragile and frozen environments in some of the iciest Nicklen, a photographer who hopes to generate corners of the world. “It just takes one image to get someone’s attention.” —PAUL NICKLEN PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE | 7 PAUL NICKLEN FROM THE PEROT MUSEUM STAGE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE! — PALEOANTHROPOLOGIST LEE BERGER ALMOST HUMAN: A NEW ANCESTOR SHAKES UP OUR FAMILY TREE PRESENTED BY CHARLES SCHWAB & CO, INC. On the heels of the groundbreaking announcement Berger is an award-winning researcher, explorer, of a new species of human relative, world-renowned author, paleoanthropologist and speaker. He is the paleoanthropologist Lee Berger made his first U.S. recipient of the National Geographic Society’s first public speaking engagement at the Perot Museum. Prize for Research and Exploration and the Academy A long-time Museum partner and founding donor, of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award. Lyda Hill was instrumental in bringing him to Dallas. His work has brought him recognition as a Fellow of In addition to the many ways Hill supports the the Royal Society of South Africa and the South African Museum, she also supports Berger’s research and Academy of Sciences and prominent advisory positions helped underwrite the conservation of the site where including the Chairmanship of the Fulbright Commission the new species was discovered. of South Africa, the Senior Advisory Board of the From the stage, he captivated the audience as he Global Young Academy and the Centre of Excellence in recounted the historic finding of this new species, PalaeoSciences of South Africa, among many others. Homo naledi. According to the research published in the journal eLife, H. naledi sheds light on the origins and diversity of the human genus as this species DR. LEE BERGER AND UNDERGROUND ASTRONAUTS BECCA PEIXOTTO, appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its HANNAH MORRIS AND MARINA ELLIOTT FROM THE PEROT MUSEUM STAGE dead in a remote cave chamber, a behavior previously thought limited to humans. Berger, research professor in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, led the expedition that recovered the fossils. The Rising Star expedition involved an international team of scientists, including the six “underground astronauts,” three of whom joined Berger on the Museum stage. These female scientists descended into the Dinaledi chamber to excavate and retrieve the fossils. The team of “underground astronauts” removed more than 1,500 bones belonging to at least 15 individuals — exceeding any other known human ancestor site in Africa. THE FIRST CAST OF H. NALEDI, GENEROUSLY GIFTED TO THE PEROT MUSEUM 8 | 2015 YEAR IN REVIEW DR. LEE BERGER AND LYDA HILL MARINA ELLIOTT, BECCA PEIXOTTO, DR. LEE BERGER, COLLEEN WALKER AND HANNAH MORRIS SIMULCAST AUDIENCE LISTENING TO THE LECTURE FROM THE AUDITORIUM REAL SCIENCE | 9 INCREASING ACCESS AND DEEPENING COMMUNITY IMPACT TECH TRUCK, POWERED BY DELL Rolling into neighborhoods soon! Through a generous The super-cool, custom-outfi tted van got its name $1.13 million grant from Dell, the Perot Museum has from an acronym that spotlights the program’s mission created a mobile innovation truck that will bring to inspire youth to “Tinker, Engineer, Create and science, technology, engineering, art and math Hack.” Specially trained Museum educators will work (STEAM) learning to a broader and more diverse to inspire children to solve design challenges through audience in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and beyond.
Recommended publications
  • Book Review of Almost Human, the Astonishing Tale of Homo Naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks
    Answers Research Journal 10 (2017):187–194. www.answersingenesis.org/arj/v10/book_review_almost_human.pdf Book Review of Almost Human, the Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery that Changed our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks Jean O’Micks, Independent Scholar. Timothy L. Clarey, Institute for Creation Research, 1806 Royal Lane, Dallas, Texas 75229 Abstract Lee Berger’s 2017 book Almost Human is a recount of his lifetime quest to find human ancestors. We review the four main sections of this book starting with his first trip to Tanzania at age 24, his involvement in the H. floresiensis controversy, then his finding of Australopithecus sediba and his latest discovery in South Africa of Homo naledi. It is interesting to read how Berger and his colleagues debated their decision to put A. sediba into the genus Australopithecus and did not succumb to evolutionary biases and claim the fossils belong to the genus Homo. The main thrust of this book seems to culminate in in the final two sections where Berger describes in detail the discovery process and the difficulties involved in excavation of H. naledi from a near inaccessible cave, dubbed the Dinaledi Chamber. His initial reactions to seeing the first bones from the site are most telling, describing in several passages how similar the anatomy of the fossils was to an australopith, and unlike a human. And yet, he eventually concludes that these fossils represented a hominin that was “almost human,” classifying it as a member of the genus Homo. Berger also reveals a few facts that were left out of the many papers published on H.
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  • Global Science, National Horizons: South Africa in Deep Time and Space*
    The Historical Journal, , (), pp. – © The Author(s), . Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/./), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:./SX GLOBAL SCIENCE, NATIONAL HORIZONS: SOUTH AFRICA IN DEEP TIME AND SPACE* SAUL DUBOW Cambridge University ABSTRACT. In his inaugural lecture, Saul Dubow, Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History at Cambridge University, discusses the modern history of science in South Africa in terms of ‘deep time’ and space, drawing links between developments in astronomy, palaeontology, and Antarctic research. He argues that Jan Smuts’s synthetic discussion of South African science in , followed by J. H. Hofmeyr’s discussion of the ‘South Africanization’ of science in , has parallels in post- apartheid conceptions of scientific-led nation-building, for example in Thabo Mbeki’s elaboration of the ‘African Renaissance’. Yet, whereas the vision of science elaborated by Smuts was geared exclu- sively to white unity, Mbeki’s Africanist vision of South African science was ostensibly more inclusive. The lecture concludes by considering South Africa as one of several middle order countries which have used national science and scientific patriotism to address experiences of colonialism and relations of inequality and to assert their influence in regional contexts. I In an easily overlooked passage in his best-selling autobiography, Long walk to freedom, Nelson Mandela recalls how, as a secondary school student, he wit- nessed a performance by the Xhosa praise poet Krune Mqhayi in which the stars were divided amongst the nations of the world.
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  • OSHER/CARTA MASTER CLASS I – Fall 2020 Special Topics in Human
    OSHER/CARTA MASTER CLASS I – Fall 2020 Special Topics in Human Origins Course Schedule & Significant Dates: • Wed, 30 September, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PDT) • Wed, 07 October, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PDT) • Wed, 04 November, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PST) • Wed, 25 November, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PST) • Wed, 02 December, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PST) **The format is a live online one-hour lecture followed by live online question and answer period.** CARTA: The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny Established at UC San Diego in 2008, CARTA is an international cooperative research forum exploring questions of human origins through transdisciplinary interactions and collaborations. As the word “anthropogeny” implies, CARTA’s primary goal is to apply transdisciplinary approaches to explaining two age-old questions regarding humans: Where did we come from? How did we get here? CARTA embraces many activities. It hosts thrice-yearly (Winter, Spring, and Fall) free public symposia on human origins and related topics; it offers a specialization in Anthropogeny to graduate students at UC San Diego; it curates a Museum of Primatology (MOP); and is actively compiling a Matrix of Comparative Anthropogeny (MOCA) that highlights uniquely human differences from closely related primates. In this series of talks, five prominent UCSD scholars, all CARTA members, will address different topics related to human- origins research. To learn more about CARTA, watch additional talks, and to support our mission, visit www.carta.anthropogeny.org and/or contact Community Engagement & Advancement Director, Lindsay Hunter ([email protected]).
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  • Lisa Holmgren
    LISA HOLMGREN visual art Tiramisu bathtub, blonde, tiramisu 160 x 70 x 70 cm, 2019 A blonde man is placed in a bathtub filled with tiramisu. He calls out “Tiramisu!”, which can be translated to “Pick me up”. By stating the obvious he is simultaneously begging for someone to get him out of there. I am aiming to convey a state of ambivalence towards notions of excess, consumer culture and isolation. Människan är född fri och överallt är hon i dojor marble, wingnut, threaded rod, shoelaces 22 x 30 x 12 cm, 2018 During the hot summer of 2018 I spent three weeks at a stone carving workshop. I wanted to create and image of an object of desire which pose a physical threat to our ability to move. The rising star cave by Niklas Hoffmann Wahlbeck The “Rising Star Cave” is located in the Malmani Dolomites in South Africa. At the very end of the rising star cave, 30 meters underground, lies the “Dinaledi” chamber. It can only be reached through a narrow and steep crack that is 12 meters long with an average width of just 20 cm. In the Sotho-Tswana languages, “Dinaledi” means “Chamber of Stars”. In late 2013 a small expedition reached the Dinaledi chamber and found the bones of one owl and of 15 humanlike individuals. Tests have shown that the bones are around 300.000 years old. It seems like they were once deliberately placed in this far off cavern, indicating some kind of burial rite. They belong to a now extinct species of homini called “Homo Naledi”.
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  • Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind – Opening Oct
    TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE’S WORLD-EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION – ORIGINS: FOSSILS FROM THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND – OPENING OCT. 19 General public can now secure tickets to experience “one of the greatest fossil discoveries of the past half century*” for one time only in Dallas Skulls of Australopithecus sediba (left) and Homo naledi (right), photo: Brett Eloff, courtesy of University of the Witwatersrand DALLAS (Sept. 18, 2019) – The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, in partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) and the National Geographic Society, proudly announces that tickets for the limited-run exhibition – Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind – are now available for purchase online at origins.perotmuseum.org. The exhibition, which runs Oct. 19, 2019 through March 22, 2020, will feature the fossils of two recently discovered ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. Origins will mark the first and likely only time these fossils will be on display in the U.S. and will be the first time that ancient hominin fossils have been transported for public display in North America since “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) toured the US between 2007 and 2013. The bilingual (English and Spanish), 5,000-square-foot exhibition will tell the stories of these amazing discoveries, from a young boy’s stumbling upon the first specimen of Au. sediba, to the breathtaking journey of six female scientists – dubbed the “underground astronauts” – who excavated the bones of H. naledi from a deep and dangerously narrow cave complex in the Rising Star Cave System near Johannesburg, South Africa.
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  • Bpeixotto CV Jan2021
    BECCA PEIXOTTO, Ph.D. [email protected] EDUCATION American University, Washington, DC Ph.D. in Anthropology, Archaeology Specialization, 2017 Dissertation: “Against the Map: Resistance LanDscapes of the Great Dismal Swamp” Dr. Daniel O. Sayers, supervisor M.A., Public Anthropology, Archaeology Specialization, 2013 Thesis: “Glass in the LanDscape of the Great Dismal Swamp” Dr. Daniel O. Sayers, supervisor Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands M.A. (with Honours), Discourse and Argumentation Studies, 1999 Thesis: “Refugees in Press: The Otherness of Kosovan Refugees in Five British Newspapers” Prof. Teun van Dijk, thesis supervisor University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL B.A., Slavic Area Studies and Mathematics (cum laude), 1997 CURRENT POSITIONS Henry M. Jackson Foundation/Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, JBPHH, Hawai’i Project Archaeologist (2020-present) • Collaborate with external anD internal partners to plan anD execute archaeological activities with the goal of recovering US servicemembers lost in past conflicts arounD the worlD. American University, Washington, D.C. Adjunct Professorial Lecturer (2017-present) • Teach face-to-face, hybriD, anD online unDergraDuate courses (Human Origins; Early America: The BurieD Past; UnDergraDuate Research MethoDs). TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, Texas Director and Research Scientist, Center for the Exploration of the Human Journey (2018-2020); Curator, Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind (2018-2021) • Develop, coorDinate, implement Museum programs relateD to paleoanthropology, archaeology, and allieD fielDs through a Center of Excellence DeDicateD to communicating the stories of our shareD human journey. • Cultivate collaborative relationships arounD outreach anD research with Prof Lee Berger, University of the WitwatersranD anD other researchers anD institutions.
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  • This Face Changes the Human Story. but How?
    This Face Changes the Human Story. But How? NALEDI FOSSILS | News This Face Changes the Human Story. But How? Scientists have discovered a new species of human ancestor deep in a South African cave, adding a baffling new branch to the family tree. By Jamie Shreeve, National Geographic Photographs by Robert Clark PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 + http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/[9/18/2015 7:27:50 AM] This Face Changes the Human Story. But How? While primitive in some respects, the face, skull, and teeth show enough modern features to justify H. naledi's placement in the genus Homo. Artist Gurche spent some 700 hours reconstructing the head from bone scans, using bear fur for hair. PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK THIESSEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC A trove of bones hidden deep within a South African cave represents a new species of human ancestor, scientists announced Thursday in the journal eLife. Homo naledi, as they call it, appears very primitive in some respects—it had a tiny brain, for instance, and apelike shoulders for climbing. But in other ways it looks remarkably like modern humans. When did it live? Where does it ft in the human family tree? And how did its bones get into the deepest hidden chamber of the cave—could such a primitive creature have been disposing of its dead intentionally? This is the story of one of the greatest fossil discoveries of the past half century, and of what it might mean for our understanding of human evolution. Chance Favors the Slender Caver Two years ago, a pair of recreational cavers entered a cave called Rising Star, some 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg.
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  • New Species of Human Relative Discovered in South African Cave Fossils Representing at Least 15 Individuals May Alter Views of Human Behaviour
    New Species of Human Relative Discovered in South African Cave Fossils representing at least 15 individuals may alter views of human behaviour JOHANNESBURG—The discovery of a new species of human relative was announced today (Sept. 10) by the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), the National Geographic Society and the South African Department of Science and Technology/ National Research Foundation (DST/NRF). Besides shedding light on the origins and diversity of our genus, the new species, Homo naledi, appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead in a remote cave chamber, a behaviour previously thought limited to humans. The finds are described in two papers published in the scientific journal eLife and reported in the cover story of the October issue of National Geographic magazine (http://natgeo.org/naledi) and a NOVA/National Geographic Special (#NalediFossils). An international team of scientists took part in the research. Consisting of more than 1,550 numbered fossil elements, the discovery is the single largest fossil hominin find yet made on the continent of Africa. The initial discovery was made in 2013 in a cave known as Rising Star in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, by Wits University scientists and volunteer cavers. The fossils, which have yet to be dated, lay in a chamber about 90 meters (some 100 yards) from the cave entrance, accessible only through a chute so narrow that a special team of very slender individuals was needed to retrieve them. So far, the team has recovered parts of at least 15 individuals of the same species, a small fraction of the fossils believed to remain in the chamber.
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  • Jeremy M. Desilva
    Curriculum Vitae Jeremy M. DeSilva Dartmouth College Phone: (603) 646-8192 Department of Anthropology [email protected] 409 Silsby Hall [email protected] Hanover, NH 03755 PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS Associate Professor, Anthropology Department. Dartmouth College. 2015-present Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department. Boston University. 2009-2015. Assistant Professor, Biology Department. Worcester State College. 2008-2009. Adjunct Instructor of Biology at Northwest State Community College, Ohio. 2007-2008. Exhibit Content Developer for Human Evolution Exhibit. Boston Museum of Science. 2004 Life Science Interpretation Coordinator. Boston Museum of Science. 2000-2003 Education Fellow. Boston Museum of Science. 1999-2000 High School Biology Teacher. Somerset High School, MA. 1998-1999 EDUCATION University of Michigan Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, 2008. Thesis: VERTICAL CLIMBING ADAPTATIONS IN THE ANTHROPOID ANKLE AND MIDFOOT: IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCOMOTION IN MIOCENE CATARRHINES AND PLIO-PLEISTOCENE HOMININS. http://www.paleoanthro.org/dissertations/list/ Dissertation committee: Laura MacLatchy (Chair), D. Fisher, J. Mitani, W. Sanders, M. Wolpoff Cornell University B.A. Biology (Physiology), 1998 AFFILIATIONS & OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES • Faculty member of Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems, and Society (EEES) graduate program at Dartmouth College and Adjunct faculty member, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College. 2015-present. • Honorary Research Fellow. Evolutionary Sciences Institute. University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. 2014-present. • Member of the Montshire Museum of Science Corporation and Program Committee. 2016-present. • Board of Directors. The Wildebeest Tail. 2018-present. • Board of Reviewers. The Anatomical Record. 2018-present. • Public Voices Fellow. Op-Ed Project. 2018-present. • Associate Editor. Journal of Human Evolution. 2013-2015. • Affiliated research scientist. Orthopaedics Biomechanics Laboratory. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
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  • Rising Star Expedition
    INTERVIEW RISING STAR EXPEDITION A member of the 2014 award- winning Rising Star Expedition, ‘Underground Astronaut’ K Lindsay Hunter was one of six female scientists who excavated fossils of the new species, Homo naledi, from the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Alongside a detailed description of her experience in the cave, she explains the impact of the K Lindsay Hunter during the Rising Star Expedition © Elen Feuerriegel. discovery to date Congratulations! The discovery of Homo naledi is altering our Mandible (occlusal understanding of human ancestry. What can you say, more specifically, view) © John Hawks. about the significance of these findings? Homo naledi (along with Homo floresiensis and the existence of the RISING STAR Denisovans) helps illustrate the diversity of evolutionary experiments our lineage is and was subject to, exposing the hubris of human exceptionalism. Our sole existence at this point in history may be nothing more than a quirk of fate, rather than the steady march of progress EXPEDITION even scientists have difficulty thinking past. Rather than abandoning us to nihilism and removing meaning from our existence, it reaffirms our connectedness with the rest of life on this planet. This gives us the opportunity to reassess what we feel sets us apart and be truly exceptional; to actively choose greatness rather than to feel entitled through separate creation or as the winners of some bloody competition. Evolution has meandered and drifted its path one way, but our lives are what we make of them. What initial conclusions can be drawn from the contrast between the ape- and human-like body parts identified within each skeleton? The mosaic features (both ‘ancestral’ and derived features – known technically as plesiomorphies or apomorphies) help us to relatively date the lineage to somewhere in the 2-2.5 million year realm.
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