Aly Baumgartner, Ph.D., Collections Manager of Paleontology, Sternberg Museum Natural History, Hays, Kansas.

Aly Baumgartner specializes in the relationship between environmental shifts and the evolution of plants. Her studies include work on the transition from forests to grasslands --and the unique changes in grasses-- in East Afrrica.

On May 03, 2021, Dr. Baumgartner appeared on Science for the Public's Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations program to discuss Ancient Environmental Shifts and Evolution. particularly the spread of grasslands in East Africa and the resulting effects on plant and animal evolution. She provided important information about the somewhat controversial idea that the grasslands also influenced the evolution of ancient humans.