Dr. Rachel Lupien is a postdoc at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. She studies the paleoclimatology of Africa, relating environmental changes over millions to hundreds of years to the evolution of our early human ancestors. In this photo, Rachel is holding the real skull (not a cast!) of a 14 million year old baby ape from the Turkana Basin, one of her field areas. She is participating in the Science-A-Thon to spread awareness that the day in a life of a scientist is exciting, varied, and full of surprises.