Kenneth Lacovara

Associate Professor, Biosciences, Drexel University

I am an Associate Professor of Biology at Drexel University and Director of Paleontology & Geology. My research is focused on the paleontological reconstruction of Mesozoic Era environments containing the remains of dinosaurs and other vertebrate animals. Currently my students and I are excavating large sauropod dinosaurs from Late Cretaceous terrestrial deposits in southern Patagonia, Argentina. I am also a member of the Bahariya Dinosaur project, working in the Egyptian Sahara, and a collaborative project with Dr. Hai Lu You (Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences) and Dr. Matthew Lamanna (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), in which we are studying the evolution of Cretaceous ornithurine birds from the middle Cretaceous of China. Closer to home, my students and I collaborate with Dr. William Gallagher (New Jersey State Museum) on a study of the Cretaceous fauna of southern New Jersey. Our recently excavated 65 million year old New Jersey crocodilian, Thoracosaurus neocesariensis, is currently on display in Stratton Hall at Drexel University. I am Co-author of The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt (Random House), companion to the A&E documentary of the same name. In the fall of 2008 I will appear in the History Channel documentary Mosters from the Past. Specialties & roles include: Mesozoic ecosystems (Egypt, Patagonia, China, Montana), Evolution and paleoecology of sauropod dinosaurs, Evolution of mangrove ecosystems, Coastal processes and the evolution of coasts with sea-level change, Educator (university classes in evolution, paleontology, and geology), Expedition leader, Expertise in lifting large objects.