Kenneth Lacovara

Kenneth Lacovara

Kenneth J. Lacovara with Dreadnoughtus femur
Born New Jersey, USA
Residence Swedesboro, New Jersey
Citizenship United States of America
Nationality American
Fields Paleontology
Institutions Rowan University
Alma mater Rowan University
Known for Discovery of Dreadnoughtus schrani, Paralititan stromeri and other dinosaurs and for founding the Rowan Fossil Park

Kenneth J. Lacovara is an American paleontologist and geologist at Rowan University and fellow of the Explorers Club,[1] known for the discovery of the titanosaurian dinosaur Dreadnoughtus and his involvement in the discovery and naming of the giant sauropod dinosaur Paralititan,[2][3] as well as his work applying 3D printing technology to paleontology.[4][5][6] Lacovara is the founder of the Rowan Fossil Park in Mantua Township, New Jersey and a TED speaker. Additionally, he serves as Paleontology Fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences.[7]

Biography

Lacovara grew up in Linwood, New Jersey[8] and attended Mainland Regional High School.[9] He graduated with honors from Rowan University in 1984. He was named Alumnus of the Year in 2002.[10] He received a Master’s degree in Physical Geography from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D in Geology from the University of Delaware in 1998.[11]

Professor of palentology and geology at Rowan University, he is founding Dean of Rowan University's School of Earth & Environment and the founding Director of the Rowan Fossil Park. Formerly, Lacovara was an Professor of Biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Discover Magazine has three times listed his work in the "Top 100 Science Stories" of the year, for 2001,[12] 2012,[13] and 2014.[14] He was a speaker at the 2016 TED and INK conferences.

Lacovara is known for his work in applying high-tech tools to dinosaur paleontology, including 3D scanning and 3D printing,[13][15] and robotics.[16]

He is a resident of Swedesboro, New Jersey[9] and a professional jazz drummer.[17]

Discoveries

On September 4, 2014, Lacovara's discovery of the giant titanosaur Dreadnoughtus schrani was published by the journal Scientific Reports, making international headlines. It is the most complete skeleton of a giant titanosaur discovered to date.[18]

Lacovara was part of the team that discovered Paralititan stromeri in the Bahariya Oasis of Egypt in 2000. Paralititan was the first new dinosaur discovery in Egypt since the early 20th century and was featured in the 2-hour documentary The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt, narrated by Matthew McConaughey and produced by Ann Druyan. The team published their findings in Science in 2001.[19] The announcement of the new species was named by Discover Magazine as one of the "100 Top Science Stories of 2001".[20]

In China, Lacovara was part of a team that discovered multiple skeletons of the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) aquatic bird Gansus yumenensis. Gansus filled an important gap in bird evolution and the team published their result in Science in 2006.[21]

Lacovara was also a member of the team that discovered Suzhousaurus megatherioides, a therizinosauroid from the Lower Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert of China.

Rowan Fossil Park

Lacovara is the founding Director of the Rowan Fossil Park, a 65-acre property in southern New Jersey that preserves a K/Pg bonebed of vertebrate fossils and serves as a site for STEM education and outreach.[22][23]

Selected Talks by Kenneth Lacovara

La Ciudad de las Ideas, Puebla, Mexico - 2016[24]

INK, Goa, India - 2016[25]

TED Summit, Banff, Canada - 2016[26]

TED, Vancouver, Canada - 2016[27]

NASA New Horizons Flyby, Baltimore, USA - 2015[28]

TEDx Drexel, Philadelphia, USA - 2015[29]

Linda Hall Library of Science, Kansas City, USA - 2013[30]

iNatura, Dornbern, Austria - 2010[31]

Explorers Club Centennial Gala - 2004[32]

References

  1. ↑ The Next Generation of Explorers. Men's Journal. September 2006. pp. 128–129.
  2. ↑ Roach, John (May 31, 2001). ""Tidal Giant" Roamed Coastal Swamps of Ancient Africa". National Geographic News. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Smith, Jesse. "Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara". The Smart Set. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Hadhazy, Adam (January 29, 2013). "Digital Fossils Bring Dinos to Life" (January–February 2013). Discovery Magazine. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Wilkins, Alasdair (February 21, 2012). "Robot dinosaurs are the future of paleontology". io9. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Wagstaff, Keith (February 22, 2012). "The Robotic Dinosaurs That Could Change Paleontology Forever". Time. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "paleontology-fellow". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  8. ↑ Avril, Tom. "Paleontologist gets equal pleasure explaining his work", The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 2014. Accessed June 10, 2015. "The carpenter's son grew up in Linwood, Atlantic County, where the coastal terrain is largely sand and mud. Then one day at a Cub Scouts meeting, when Lacovara was in second grade, an amateur geologist brought in a box of geodes and minerals."
  9. 1 2 Marino, Suzanne. "MRHS students dig the mighty tale of Dreadnoughtus discovery by alum", The Current, February 24, 2015. Accessed June 10, 2015. "Mainland Regional High School can boast many successful alumnae. There are doctors, lawyers, politicians, NFL players, and Peace Corps volunteers, but Friday, Feb. 20, Ken Lacovara Ph.D., a paleontologist and possibly one of the most adventurous of the famous alums, stopped in to talk about what he has been up to since he left Mainland in 1978.... Marino, Suzanne. "MRHS students dig the mighty tale of Dreadnoughtus discovery by alum", The Current, February 24, 2015. Accessed June 10, 2015. "Mainland Regional High School can boast many successful alumnae. There are doctors, lawyers, politicians, NFL players, and Peace Corps volunteers, but Friday, Feb. 20, Ken Lacovara Ph.D., a paleontologist and possibly one of the most adventurous of the famous alums, stopped in to talk about what he has been up to since he left Mainland in 1978."
  10. ↑ "Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients". Rowan Today. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Drexel University faculty page". Drexel University College of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Campus Buzz | Penn Current". penncurrent.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  13. 1 2 "Digital Fossils Bring Dinos to Life | DiscoverMagazine.com". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  14. ↑ "Introducing the Heavyweight Dino of the World | DiscoverMagazine.com". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  15. ↑ June, Laura (2012-07-02). "Printing dinosaurs: the mad science of new paleontology". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  16. ↑ "How a 65-ton dinosaur took a power walk". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  17. ↑ Nothdurft, William; Smith, Josh (2002-09-24). The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9781588361172.
  18. ↑ Lacovara, Kenneth J.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Ibiricu, Lucio M.; Poole, Jason C.; Schroeter, Elena C.; Ullman, Paul V.; Voegele, Kristyn K.; Boles, Zachary M.; Carter, Aja M.; Fowler, Emma K.; Egerton, Victoria M.; Moyer, Alison E.; Coughenour, Christopher L.; Schein, Jason P.; Harris, Jerald D.; Martínez, Rubén D; Novas, Fernando E. (September 4, 2014). "A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina". Scientific Reports. 4: 6196. doi:10.1038/srep06196. PMID 25186586. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  19. ↑ Smith, Joshua; Lamanna, Matthew; Lacovara, Kenneth; Dodson, Peter; Smith, Jennifer; Poole, Jason; Giegengack, Robert; Attia, Yousry (June 1, 2001). "A Giant Sauropod Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Mangrove Deposit in Egypt". Science. 292 (5522): 1704–6. doi:10.1126/science.1060561. PMID 11387472.
  20. ↑ "Campus Buzz: A huge discovery...". Penn Current. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  21. ↑ You, Hai-Lu; Lamanna, Matthew; Harris, Jerald; Chiappe, Luis; O'Connor, Jingmai; Ji, Shu-an; Lü, Jun-chang; Yuan, Chong-xi; Li, Da-qing; Zhang, Xing; Lacovara, Kenneth; Dodson, Peter; Ji, Qiang (June 16, 2006). "A Nearly Modern Amphibious Bird from the Early Cretaceous of Northwestern China". Science. 312 (5780): 1640–1643. doi:10.1126/science.1126377. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  22. ↑ Driscoll, Jessica (June 28, 2012). "Mantua Township's Inversand site may be of national importance to paleontologists". Gloucester County Times. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  23. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (2016-01-04). "Behind a Shopping Center in New Jersey, Signs of a Mass Extinction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  24. ↑ "La Ciudad de las Ideas". www.ciudaddelasideas.com. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  25. ↑ "INK2016 | Stories, Ideas and Perspectives | 300+ Inspirational talks by remarkable people from INK events -". inktalks.com. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  26. ↑ "Meet the 110 speakers at TEDSummit 2016 (including some of the most popular of all time)". 2016-03-29. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  27. ↑ Lacovara, Kenneth, Hunting for dinosaurs showed me our place in the universe, retrieved 2016-09-24
  28. ↑ Ewing, Rachel (2015-07-10). "Quick Take: A Paleontologist's View of the New Horizons Pluto Flyby". Drexel News Blog. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  29. ↑ "TEDxDrexelU | TED.com". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  30. ↑ "Next-Gen Paleontology: 3D Printed Dinosaurs - Linda Hall Library". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  31. ↑ "Dinosaurier in der inatura: Amerikanischer Star-Paläontologe Prof. Dr. Kenneth Lacovara hielt Vortrag in Dornbirn.". Dinosaurier in der inatura: Amerikanischer Star-Paläontologe Prof. Dr. Kenneth Lacovara hielt Vortrag in Dornbirn. (in German). Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  32. ↑ "From Antarctica to Mars in 100 years". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
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