Institute of Human Origins participates in Santa Barbara symposium

This weekend, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History will play host to the Symposium on Human Origins, featuring a group of prominent anthropologists that includes ArizonaStateUniversity’s Donald Johanson. The founding director of the Institute of Human Origins in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Johanson is renowned for his discovery of the 3.2-million-year-old hominid called “Lucy.”

The April 16 edition of the Santa Barbara Independent provides an insider’s look at the symposium in an interview with museum director Karl Hutterer, who helped bring the origins-themed meeting of minds to fruition. Hutterer discusses the ongoing public fascination with human origins and evolution, as well as the relevance of evolutionary study. He explains that the symposium brings a unique learning opportunity to the Santa Barbara community by providing access to lectures by top-tier scientists who can shed light on the state of human-origins study and expound on some of the latest advancements in the field.