Robin Rakobitsch '05 and Professor Susan Swensen

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• Science Magazine
  • Professor Rossen's research
  • Professor Swensen's research
• Science Daily

The prestigious journal Science recently published articles by Ithaca College biology professor Sue Swensen and anthropology professor Jack Rossen. Professor Swensen was one of five authors on the May 16 cover story titled, “Hidden Neotropical Diversity: Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts.” The research explored the extraordinary diversity among tropical herbivorous fruit flies and its relationship to plant species diversity and insect specialization. Swensen and her colleagues examined over 2,800 flies from 24 different tropical plants and cataloged 52 unique species -- many of them only distinguishable at the genetic level.

Professor Jack Rossen and the research team pose for a photo.

Professor Rossen was part of a team identifying human artifacts from a site at Monte Verde, Chile, to determine how and when people reached the tip of South America. 

An excavation site in Mount Verde, Chile

The data from his coauthored study, “Monte Verde: Seaweed, Food, Medicine, and the Peopling of South America,” provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis that the first Americans came from Asia by boat along the Pacific coast more than 14,000 years ago. The report was also published in Science Daily.