One ISU professor is investigating how environmental changes influenced hunters and gatherers to become farmers 12,000 years ago.

The reason for this transition is up for debate to geology-focused scholars like Cinzia Cervato, assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences.

Cervato and her colleagues are trying to prove how responsible environmental changes may have been in the transition. Their focus is on the eastern Mediterranean region where some of the oldest evidence of farming has been discovered. They hypothesize the transition came about during a cold period called the Younger Dryas.

“It’s just so fascinating to discover new things,” she said.

“My research in this area is progressing very well. I believe it will have quite an impact on the field, since it is considered very controversial and there is a lot of excitement in the field for this research.”

Cervato has people from around the United States and the world helping her, including Ofer Bar-Yosef, prehistoric archaeology professor at Harvard University, and professors from Columbia University, Istanbul University and the Portuguese Institute of Archaeology.

Cervato is originally from Padua, Italy. She chose geology partly because of the challenge it presented as a mostly male-dominated field.

“I have always liked science,” she said. “Geology, in particular, was the applied version that I enjoyed most.”

Geology allowed Cervato to work with fossils and gave her the satisfaction of seeing students find the same interest in geology that she feels.

Cervato is also working with William Gallus, associate professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, and Carolina Cruz-Neira, associate professor for the Virtual Reality Applications Center on a virtual tornado project.

“[Cervato is] a really solid researcher and she really knows what’s going on. She’s also a very good collaborator and she’s very good with students and making herself available to them,” Cruz-Neira said.

Carl Jacobson, chairman and professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, said Cervato “has made a large contribution towards bridging the gap between the geology and meteorology department.

“She does a great job and she serves a very important role here,” he said.

Cervato said she loves the travel her job allows. She said her 4-year-old daughter, Francesca, has traveled with her to at least 30 countries in the name of geology.