Alemseged Lab members Maddie Kelly, Hannah Farrell, Yared Reda, and new postdoc Austin Lawrence kicked off the autumn quarter on September 30, 2023, by presenting on all things human evolution at UChicago’s second annual South Side Science Festival. This year, the festival brought more than 4,500 people from communities across the city to the UChicago campus! Check out this short news clip about the event and how it got started.

The Alemseged Lab table display with a general time line of human evolution and flip-up fun facts (without any of the skull casts set up yet).

Lab members curated a timeline of important milestones in human evolutionary history and talked with curious community members of all ages about the fossil record and how we know what we know about our shared history.

Yared, Maddie, and Hannah at the Hominids Table, waiting in suspense for the event to begin.

The 2023 South Side Science Festival was a great way for our lab members to practice outreach skills, engage with members of the public, and promote scientific literacy.

Yared, Austin, and Maddie communicate with the public about what we know of human evolution.

Austin and Yared take turns explaining aspects of paleoanthropology to families of curious future scientists, giving them hands-on understanding of fossil discoveries.

The event also provided an excellent opportunity for our younger community members to see themselves represented in the scientific community and experience firsthand what a career in science can look like.

Hannah, Yared, and Maddie entertain the public with science and give their approval for how well it turned out.

We look forward to seeing you out there again next fall!