Anthropology.net

I want to congratulate Dr. C. Owen Lovejoy on being elected membership to the National Academy of Sciences because of his excellence in original scientific research.

Membership into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a pretty prestigious honor, because other NAS members include, “Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Thomas Edison, [and] more than 170 members of the NAS [who] have won the Nobel Prize.” Lovejoy will also join the ranks of other famous anthropologists who have been bestowed the title, such as Erik Trinkaus, Tim White, F. Clark Howell, Clifford Geertz, Frans de Waal, and Lewis Binford. If you are curious, here is the complete list of every anthropologist who has been a member of the NAS.

Kent State’s President Lester A. Lefton has congratulated Lovejoy,

“Dr. Lovejoy’s pioneering research helped put Kent State on the academic map nationally and internationally, and his outstanding teaching has inspired many of our students to become top scientists in their own right. Having this world-class scholar in our midst is a source of tremendous pride for the entire Kent State community and we are thrilled that Dr. Lovejoy’s stellar career has been recognized with this rare and richly deserved honor.”

The following is a summary of some the important accomplishments of Lovejoy:

• Reconstruction of “Lucy” – the nearly complete fossil of a human ancestor that walked upright more than three million years ago.
• His works on developing theories integrating paleodemography and human origins modeling.
• His research on Ardipithecus ramidus.
• His research on a new possible human ancestor, Australopithecus garhi.
• His role as a clinical professor of anatomy at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
• More than 100 articles in publications such as Science, Nature, Bioessays and Scientific American.

Pretty impressive body of work, if you ask me. I’m happy this has happened because, while I have never met Dr. Lovejoy, I have read his comments on posts here and there, especially on Scientific American articles relating to paleoanthropology and human evolution… which I consider a testament his interests in the study. Or in other words, the man takes time to engage the community by commenting and discussing physical anthropology outside of the class room and his office hours, in a informal setting.

Again, Dr. Lovejoy if you are out there, congratulations — you deserve the recognition.