Principles of Life Digital Update

David M. Hillis is the Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor in Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also has directed the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, the Biodiversity Center, and the School of Biological Sciences. Dr. Hillis has taught courses in introductory biology, genetics, evolution, systematics, and biodiversity. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, and has served as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution and of the Society of Systematic Biologists. He served on the National Research Council committee that wrote the report BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education for Research Biologists, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Academies Scientific Teaching Alliance.Mary V. Price is Professor of Biology, Emerita, at the University of California, Riverside, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona. In “retirement” she continues to teach, investigate, and publish. Dr. Price has taught, mentored, and published with students at all levels, and particularly enjoys leading field classes in the arid regions of North America and Australia, and the tropical forests of Central America, Africa, and Madagascar. Her research focuses on understanding not only the ecology of North American deserts and mountains, but also on how science really works.Richard W. Hill is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University and a frequent Guest Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is the senior author of the leading textbook on animal physiology. Among the awards he has received are the Outstanding Faculty Award, Meritorious Faculty Award, and election as Fellow of the AAAS. His research interests include: temperature regulation and energetics in birds and mammals, especially neonates; and environmental physiology of marine tertiary sulfonium and quaternary ammonium compounds.David W. Hall is an Associate Professor of Genetics at the University of Georgia, where he was the recipient of the Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013. Recent work includes using mathematical models to address the evolution of meiotic drive, the rate and pattern of molecular evolution in social insects, and early sex chromosome evolution. In the lab, he utilizes different yeast species to study spontaneous mutations using a combination of both mutation-accumulation and adaptation experiments. Since high school, he has been captivated by how the living world works. Like many students, he was initially overwhelmed by the diversity of life, but he came to realize that there are fundamental principles that unite organisms. His interest in determining how these principles shape the diversity of life led him into his research and teaching career.Marta J. Laskowski is a Professor in the Biology Department at Oberlin College. Dr. Laskowski has mentored undergraduate students in research and has taught introductory biology, skills-based first year seminars (Feeding the World), plant physiology, and plant development. She heads an effort at Oberlin, funded by the HHMI Inclusive Excellence program, to enhance the climate for and success of a diverse student population in STEM. One of her numerous journal articles resulted in a Guinness World Record for the fastest opening flower (Cornus canadensis; bunchberry). A college class in developmental biology so captivated her that she decided to focus her research on discovering the intricate sub-cellular interactions that establish the plant root system. Read more