Professor of paleontology and geology at Rowan University, he is former founding Dean of Rowan University's School of Earth & Environment and the founding Executive Director of the Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum or Rowan University. Formerly, Lacovara was a Professor of Biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Discover Magazine has three times listed his work in the "Top 100 Science Stories" of the year, for 2001,[14] 2012,[15] and 2014.[16] He was a speaker at the 2016 TED and INK conferences.
Lacovara is known for his work in applying high-tech tools to dinosaur paleontology, including 3D scanning and 3D printing,[15][17] and robotics.[18]
On September 4, 2014, Lacovara's discovery of the giant titanosaur, Dreadnoughtus schrani, was published by the journal Scientific Reports, making international headlines. It is the most complete skeleton of a giant titanosaur discovered to date.[21]
Lacovara was part of the team that discovered Paralititan stromeri in the Bahariya Oasis of Egypt in 2000. Paralititan was the first new dinosaur discovery in Egypt since the early 20th century and was featured in the 2-hour documentary The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt, narrated by Matthew McConaughey and produced by Ann Druyan. The team published their findings in Science in 2001.[22] The announcement of the new species was named by Discover Magazine as one of the "100 Top Science Stories of 2001".[23]
Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University
Lacovara is the founding Executive Director of the Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University, a 44,000 s.f. museum that sits on a 65-acre property in southern New Jersey that preserves a K/Pg bonebed of vertebrate fossils and serves as a site for STEM education and outreach.[25][26]
Explorers Club Medal
In 2019 Lacovara received The Explorers Club's highest honor, the Explorers Club MedalArchived 2016-03-19 at the Wayback Machine, awarded for "extraordinary contributions directly in the field of exploration, scientific research, or to the welfare of humanity.".[27] Previous recipients include Roy Chapman Andrews, Neil Armstrong, Jane Goodall, Edward O. Wilson, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.[28]
^Avril, Tom. "Paleontologist gets equal pleasure explaining his work", The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 2014. Accessed September 22, 2022. "The carpenter's son grew up in Linwood, Atlantic County, where the coastal terrain is largely sand and mud. Then one day at a Cub Scouts meeting, when Lacovara was in second grade, an amateur geologist brought in a box of geodes and minerals."
^ abMarino, Suzanne. "MRHS students dig the mighty tale of Dreadnoughtus discovery by alum"Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Current, February 24, 2015. Accessed June 10, 2015. "Mainland Regional High School can boast many successful alumnae. There are doctors, lawyers, politicians, NFL players, and Peace Corps volunteers, but Friday, Feb. 20, Ken Lacovara Ph.D., a paleontologist and possibly one of the most adventurous of the famous alums, stopped in to talk about what he has been up to since he left Mainland in 1978....
