June 6, 2008

Curtis Marean, a professor in ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change and its Institute of Human Origins, will be one of six presenters at this year's prestigious Nobel Conference held at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Marean, a renowned paleoanthropologist who recently made international headlines for his research along the South African coastline, will share his discovery of the earliest dated evidence of modern humans at the conference titled "Who Were the First Humans?"

The event, now in its 44th year, is one of the Midwest's major academic affairs and the only ongoing U.S. conference endorsed by the Nobel Foundation. Designed "to bring cutting-edge science issues to the attention of an audience of students and interested adults; and to engage the panelists and the audience in a discussion of moral and societal impact of these issues," the conference typically attracts about 6,000 scholars and students.

The 2008 Nobel Conference will be held Oct. 7-8. Also presenting this year are: Robin I. M. Dunbar, University of Oxford; Marcus W. Feldman, Stanford University; J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, Princeton Theological Seminar; Svante Pääbo, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology; and Dennis Stanford, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Visit the Nobel Conference Web site...

Rebecca Howe, rebecca.howe@asu.edu
(480) 727-6577
School of Human Evolution and Social Change