Interviewed by
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Interviewed by |
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Born |
July 31, 1939, Orange, California |
Position |
Chancellor's Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley |
| Biography |
She received her B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. (1968) in zoology and biology from the University of Southern California. She has taught at the University of California at Berkeley for 31 years. She was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 1988. She is chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, president-elect of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and secretary general of the International Union of Biological Sciences. |
| Research interests |
She is a member of several boards and committees, including the National Science Foundation's BIO Advisory Committee, the American Institute of Biological Sciences board of directors, and the DIVERSITAS executive committee. She has given many lectures throughout the world and is the author of more than 160 papers and books dealing with evolutionary morphology and, recently, biodiversity science. |
How would you describe yourself?
I have a childlike level of curiosity and am proud of it.
What first inspired you to go into your field?
As an undergraduate, I had already been accepted into medical school, but was still taking lots of zoology requirements. The professor of an evolutionary course called me in to suggest a senior project, and, in effect, I've been focusing on that topic ever since.
Why do you think you've advanced well in your career?
Hard work and persistence.
What do you enjoy about your work?
Biology is fun. I get into the tropics where the animals I study live. I get the privilege of doing field work in Central America, in Vietnam, and so forth.
What do you dislike about your research field?
I cannot think of much that I dislike about my research, but what I dislike in my day is the disruption of administrative paper work.
p>Are there aspects you would change?For all teachers, kindergarten through graduate school, I would wish for better facilitation for their teaching and research. The constant scramble to do the backup paperwork, to generate the funding, the abysmally low prestige that K-12 teachers particularly have - all of these elements are detriments to doing the job of teaching with the pleasure and fervor that it deserves.
What was your first scientific experiment?
My first research was not experimental. It was descriptive in the sense I was studying theory.
What were the results of your first experiment?
Good.
How did the experience increase your maturity as a scientist?
I was taught patience.
What was your science teacher like?
She was terrific. She was an older woman, perhaps 65.
Did that inspire you?
Yes. She took me and our class into the field. We were in southern California tide pools at least once a month.
What is your proudest achievement?
Getting my chancellor professorship at Berkeley was a signal honor, especially because it is meant to recognize the combination of teaching, research, and service.
What advice would you give a younger scientist?
To not get locked up in a particular area of research. Keep your eyes open to see what you can contribute to the other parts of science that will make your own field of interest better.
In what areas do you think you need advice yourself?
Definitely to keep on improving.
What would you be if not a scientist?
If I had been born 100 years ago, I would have loved to have run a salon in the French sense - that is, a discussion group to which I would have brought diverse personalities and expertise.
Why?
The delivery of information and the integration of perception and perspective is what drives science, in addition to keeping social interaction at a high and interesting level.
Which scientist from history would you like to meet?
Lucretia Padua of Italy, who got her Ph.D. around 1560.
What would you ask her?
I'd ask her why she chose to do what she did in her field.
Which living scientist do you most admire?
Peter Raven because of his commitment to emphasizing biology and its social implications.
What was the greatest scientific discovery of this past century?
The microchip.
Why that?
It was a technological advance that had such profound implications for all things analytical.
What will be the great discoveries of this century?
p>An understanding of the integration of the nervous system and its developmental regulatory capacities.What research goals do scientists need to set themselves?
To understand their own goals and focus, but be clear about how these interact with other areas of science and be able to communicate these interactions.
How has the Internet influenced what you do, other than in providing email?
Information communication has been enhanced, but I don't think the links have yet been well established.
Daniel Edelstein, a science writer and naturalist, lives in Maryland on a lake at the edge of a forest 35 miles west of Washington, DC.
Johnny Huard Gordon OriansRod DillonPhilip Cohen Timothy C. Thompson Julian Edmund Davies