Zeresenay “Zeray” Alemseged, Donald N. Pritzker Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Alemseged is a paleoanthropologist studying human evolution. His research methods span extensive fieldwork and cutting-edge imaging techniques to discover and analyze the processes and mechanisms that led to the emergence of Homo sapiens. While leading the Dikika Research Project in Ethiopia, Alemseged discovered and analyzed the fossilized remains of a 3.3-million-year-old child of the species Australopithecus afarensis—the most complete skeleton of a human ancestor discovered to date. This and other findings by Alemseged represent major advancements in our understanding and have changed the textbooks on human evolution.
Read more about Dr. Alemseged and the other seven UChicago faculty elected this year to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences here.