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Science, Evolution, and Creationism (2008)

Chapter: Committee Member Biographies

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Suggested Citation:"Committee Member Biographies." National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Science, Evolution, and Creationism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11876.
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Page 60
Suggested Citation:"Committee Member Biographies." National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Science, Evolution, and Creationism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11876.
×
Page 61
Suggested Citation:"Committee Member Biographies." National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Science, Evolution, and Creationism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11876.
×
Page 62
Suggested Citation:"Committee Member Biographies." National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Science, Evolution, and Creationism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11876.
×
Page 63

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COMMITTEE MEMBER awards from many organizations worldwide, as well as honorary degrees from universities in Europe, Asia, BIOgraphies and the United States. In 2002, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Science. May R. Berenbaum (NAS) is the Swanlund professor Bruce Alberts (NAS) is professor of biochemistry and head of the Department of Entomology at the and biophysics at the University of California, San University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has Francisco. His research has focused on the mecha- made major contributions to understanding the role nisms of two different reactions that are fundamental of chemistry in interactions between plants and her- to the life of the cell. He is noted particularly for his bivorous insects and identifying key plant toxins and extensive study of the protein complexes that allow determining their modes of action against insects. Her chromosomes to be replicated, as required for a living investigations have examined proximate physiological cell to divide. mechanisms and their evolutionary consequences for Alberts is one of the original authors of The Molecu­ both plants and insects. Her research interests include lar Biology of the Cell, considered the field’s leading chemical ecology, insect-plant interactions, the evolu- advanced textbook and used widely in U.S. colleges tionary biology of moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), and universities. His most recent text, Essential Cell photobiology, and environmentally sustainable pest Biology, is intended to present this subject matter to management. a wider audience. She has received awards from the National Science He was president of the National Academy of Foundation, the Ecological Society of America, the Sciences and chair of the National Research Council Weizmann Institute, and the International Society from 1993 to 2005. He continues to serve as an ex of Chemical Ecology. She is an elected fellow of the officio member of the National Academies Teacher Entomological Society of America, the American Advisory Council, which he initiated. Committed to Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American improving science education, he helped initiate and Philosophical Society. develop City Science, a program that links UCSF to She is a member of the editorial board of the the improvement of science teaching in San Francisco Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and elementary schools. a recent member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences. As a result of her interest in Francisco J. Ayala (Committee Chair, NAS) is univer- promoting science literacy, she has authored many sity professor and Donald Bren professor of biological newspaper and magazine articles and four books on sciences and professor of philosophy at the University science topics for general readers. of California, Irvine. His research focuses on popula- tion and evolutionary genetics. The study of biological Betty Carvellas is a recently retired teacher and evolution is his main interest, particularly the genetics science department cochair at Essex High School in of the evolutionary process, molecular evolution, the Essex Junction, Vermont. Her professional service process of speciation, genetic variation in popula- included work at the local, state, and national levels. tions, studies of population growth and dynamics, She served as cochair of the education committee and and ecological competition. He also writes about the was a member of the executive board of the Council of interface between religion and science, and on philo- Scientific Society Presidents and is a past president of sophical issues concerning epistemology, ethics, and the National Association of Biology Teachers. the philosophy of biology. His books include Human She received the Sigma Xi Outstanding Vermont Evolution: Trails from the Past, Darwin’s Gift to Science Science Teacher Award (1981) and the Presidential and Religion, Darwin and Intelligent Design, Population Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics and Evolutionary Genetics: A Primer, Evolving: The Theory Teaching (1984), and in 2000 she was named honor- and Processes of Organic Evolution, and Studies in the ary member of the National Association of Biology Philosophy of Biology. He testified in the Arkansas trial Teachers. In 2001 she was selected for a National on the teaching of evolution in 1981. Science Foundation program, Teachers Experiencing He has been president and chairman of the board Antarctica and the Arctic, and she has spent four of the American Association for the Advancement summers working with scientists in the Bering Sea of Science and president of Sigma Xi, the scientific and the Arctic Ocean. She was a charter member and research society of the United States. He has received chair of the Vermont Standards Board for Professional 60 Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Educators and served on the board of directors of the cases on evolution education, McLean v. Arkansas and Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. Aguillard v. Treen. Her interests include interdisciplinary teaching, He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, connecting school science to the real world, travel- serving as president and a member of the board of ing with students on international field studies, directors, and the American Academy of Arts and and bringing inquiry into the science classroom. Sciences. He received the 2001 Public Service Award Carvellas was a charter member of the Teacher from the Geological Society of America and the 2003 Advisory Council of the National Academies, and National Medal of Science. she served as chair of the ad hoc committee that organized its 2004 workshop on linking mandatory Robert M. Hazen is a research scientist at the Carnegie professional development to high-quality teaching Institution of Washington’s Geophysical Laboratory and learning. and the Clarence Robinson professor of earth science at George Mason University. His recent research focuses Michael T. Clegg (NAS) is Donald Bren professor on the role of minerals in the origin of life, including of biological sciences at the University of California, such processes as mineral-catalyzed organic synthe- Irvine. He is an authority on the evolution of complex sis and the selective adsorption of organic molecules genetic systems and is recognized internationally for on mineral surfaces. He is the author of Genesis: The his contributions to understanding the genetic and Scientific Quest for Life’s Origins, The New Alchemists, ecological basis for adaptive evolutionary changes Why Aren’t Black Holes Black?, The Diamond Makers, and in populations and at higher taxonomic levels. He is more than 260 scientific papers. interested in the population genetics of plants, plant Hazen is active in presenting science to a general molecular evolution, statistical estimation of genetic audience. At George Mason University he has devel- parameters, plant phylogeny, plant genetic transmis- oped courses and companion texts on scientific literacy. sion and molecular genetics, and genetic conservation His books with coauthor James Trefil include Science in agriculture. Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy and The Sciences: Clegg is an ex officio member of 29 National An Integrated Approach. He also served on the team Academy of Sciences committees, as well as chair of of writers for the NRC’s National Science Education the International Advisory Board and a member of the Standards and the National Academy’s Teaching About International Programs Committee. He is currently Evolution and the Nature of Science. serving as foreign secretary of the National Academy He serves on the Committee on Public Understanding of Sciences. He chaired the delegation to the 28th of Science and Technology of the American Association General Assembly of the International Council for for the Advancement of Science and on advisory boards Science in Shanghai and Suzhou, China, in 2005. for NOVA (WGBH, Boston), Earth & Sky (PBS), the Encyclopedia Americana, and the Carnegie Council. G. Brent Dalrymple (NAS) is professor and dean He appears frequently on radio and television pro- emeritus of oceanic and atmospheric sciences at grams on science, and he recorded The Joy of Science, Oregon State University. He is a geochronologist who a 60-lecture video course produced by The Teaching helped lay the basis for ocean-floor spreading theory, Company. the hotspot theory of mid-ocean volcanism, the use of He was recently elected president of the Mineralogical mantle plumes as the absolute frame for plate motion Society of America. A fellow of the American Association through geologic history, fine-structure stratigraphy for the Advancement of Science, he has received awards of the lunar regolith, and lunar cratering history. His from the Mineralogical Society of America, the primary research interests involve the development American Chemical Society, the American Society of and improvement of isotopic dating techniques, in Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the Educational particular the K-Ar and 40Ar/39Ar methods, and their Press Association, and the American Crystallographic application to a broad range of geological and geo- Association. physical problems. Dalrymple is the author of The Age of the Earth as Toby M. Horn is codirector of the Carnegie Academy well as a shorter version titled Ancient Earth, Ancient for Science Education at the Carnegie Institution of Skies. His recent research involves a series of experi- Washington, D.C. In this capacity she works directly ments to determine the history of bombardment of the with teachers in the District of Columbia public Moon by large impactors and of the resulting lunar schools, both in workshops and in their classrooms, basin formation. He testified in the landmark federal to help them improve instruction in science, math- Science, Evolution, and Creationism 61

ematics, and technology. She also works with the His research interests include cancer proteomics, D.C. public school system to assist teachers in obtain- chemoprevention of cancers, public health genetics, ing the necessary supplies for teaching science and science-based risk analysis, and health policy. He was biotechnology. Horn is an instructor in the academy’s principal investigator of the beta-Carotene and Retinol First Light Saturday science program for middle school Efficacy Trial (CARET) of preventive agents against students in D.C. public and charter schools. lung cancer and heart disease, director of the Center Prior to joining Carnegie, Horn taught at the for Health Promotion in Older Adults, and creator of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and a university-wide initiative on Public Health Genetics Technology in Fairfax County, Va., and established one in Ethical, Legal, and Policy Context while at the of the first precollege biotechnology programs there. University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer She also served for two years as outreach coordina- Research Center. He is a longtime director of Amgen tor for the Fralin Biotechnology Center at Virginia Inc. and of Rohm & Haas Company. He was president Polytechnic Institute and State University. of the American Association for the Advancement of Horn was the 2006 president of the National Science in 2005–2006. Association of Biology Teachers. As a staff fellow He is a member of the American Academy of Arts at the National Cancer Institute, she studied DNA and Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, sequences thought to be associated with breast cancer. and the American College of Physicians. He chaired the presidential/congressional Commission on Risk Nancy A. Moran (NAS) is Regents’ professor of ecol- Assessment and Risk Management, served on the ogy and evolutionary biology at the University of National Commission on the Environment, and chaired Arizona. She is active in interdisciplinary graduate the National Academies’ Committee on Science, training in evolutionary genomics and has taught evo- Engineering, and Public Policy. lutionary biology and genomics at the undergraduate, graduate, and high school levels. Her research focuses Robert T. Pennock is professor of history and philoso- on the role of symbiotic interactions in ecology and phy of science at Michigan State University, where he is evolution and involves fundamental evolutionary on the faculty of the Lyman Briggs College of Science, forces, such as mutation, gene transfer, natural selec- the Philosophy Department, and the Department of tion, and ecological diversification. Using approaches Computer Science, as well as the Center for Ethics from molecular evolution, systematics, genomics, and and Humanities in the Life Sciences and the Ecology, population genetics, she works extensively with both Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior graduate program. bacteria and insects and their ecological interactions. His research interests include the philosophy of biology Her work has shown that many groups of insects have and the relationship of epistemic and ethical values in coevolved with bacterial symbionts for millions of science. years, that these symbionts supply nutrients to their Pennock is the author of Tower of Babel: The Evidence hosts, allowing diversification into new ecological Against the New Creationism and Intelligent Design niches, and that the symbionts have undergone exten- Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and sive genome reduction through loss of most ancestral Scientific Perspectives. He testified in the case on the genes. Most of her work is on groups of insects, such teaching of intelligent design creationism, Kitzmiller v. as aphids, that are major agricultural pests. Dover Area School District. Moran has served as president of the Society for Pennock has received fellowships from the Mellon the Study of Evolution and as vice president of the Foundation, the National Endowment for the American Society of Naturalists. She is a fellow of the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation. American Academy of Microbiology and a recipient of He is a fellow of the American Association for the a MacArthur Foundation fellowship. Advancement of Science and serves on its Committee on the Public Understanding of Science, as well as the Gilbert S. Omenn (IOM) is professor of internal medi- American Philosophical Association’s Committee on cine, human genetics, and public health and director Public Philosophy. He is chair of the education commit- of the Center for Computational Medicine and Biology tee of the Society for the Study of Evolution and is cur- at the University of Michigan. He is principal investi- rently working on a book examining how Darwinian gator of the Michigan Proteomics Alliance for Cancer evolution, as an abstract theoretical model, can be Research and leader of the international Human applied practically beyond biology. Proteome Organization’s Human Plasma Proteome Project. 62 Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Peter H. Raven (NAS) is the Engelmann professor of western United States. Her recent work has examined botany at Washington University and director of the gene flow between genetically modified rice and wild Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. He is a conser- relatives of rice. vationist who has transformed the Missouri Botanical Schaal currently serves as the vice president of the Garden into one of the world’s leading plant conser- National Academy of Sciences. She has also been presi- vation centers. His primary research interests are the dent of the Society for the Study of Evolution and the systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the plant Botanical Society of America. family Onagraceae, which includes 16 genera and some 650 species. This family of plants has provided power- Neil deGrasse Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose director ful models for understanding patterns and processes in of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum plant evolution in general. Another particular interest of Natural History. His research interests include star is plant biogeography — the evolutionary history of formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the entire biota and the individual taxa found in certain structure of the Milky Way. regions — and the ways in which these organisms Tyson has served on presidential commissions that have been influenced by continental movements. He studied the future of the U.S. aerospace industry (2001) has focused much of his attention on what he consid- and the implementation of the U.S. space exploration ers the menace of a “sixth extinction” — a potential policy (2004). A winner of the Public Service Medal of mass extinction of living organisms that would be the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, brought about by the mushrooming human population the highest award given to a non–civil servant, Tyson and by human carelessness and commerce. currently serves on NASA’s advisory council. Raven’s service to national and international In addition to his professional publications, Tyson organizations has included president of the American also writes for the public. He is an essayist for Natural Association for the Advancement of Science, member History magazine and the author of The Sky Is Not the of the Pontifical Academy of Science, home secretary Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist and Origins: of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, member of Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, cowritten with the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Donald Goldsmith. He serves as the host and execu- Technology, and chairman of the National Geographic tive editor for the PBS-NOVA program “NOVA Science Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration. He Now,” in which each episode profiles the frontier of sci- has received Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundation entific discovery drawn from such fields as chemistry, fellowships. Time magazine, in its 1999 Earth Day biology, geology, physics, robotics, and astrophysics. issue, declared that Raven is one of its “Heroes of the Tyson is the recipient of eight honorary doctoral Planet” for what he is doing “to preserve and protect degrees and currently serves as president of the the environment.” Planetary Society. His contributions to public apprecia- tion of the cosmos have recently been recognized by Barbara A. Schaal (NAS) is the Spencer T. Olin profes- the International Astronomical Union in their official sor of biology at Washington University, St. Louis. Her naming of the asteroid “13123 Tyson.” investigations have focused on the genetic heteroge- neity of plant species, including those native to the Holly A. Wichman is professor of biological sciences at United States, tropical crops and their wild relatives, the University of Idaho and cofounder of the interdisci- and the family of plants called Arabidopsis. She uses a plinary Initiative for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary variety of molecular markers in several plant species Studies. She teaches courses in genetics, experimental to study fundamental evolutionary processes, such as biology, and professional development for graduate gene migration, molecular evolution, and natural selec- students. Her research focuses on genome organiza- tion. Her application of DNA analysis to plant evolu- tion in mammals and on experimental evolution using tion at the population level has revealed unexpectedly viruses as a model system. Her work on mammalian high levels of diversity, has led to the development retrotransposons is carried out in a strong phylogenet- of DNA fingerprinting in plants, and has helped ic framework; she has examined retrotransposon evo- explain the reasons for this level of diversity. She has lution in monotremes, marsupials, and all 18 orders been involved with work that has identified the wild of placental mammals. This work focuses primarily progenitor of cassava and the probable geographical on events that occurred tens of millions of years ago. location of its domestication in the Amazon region of However, short-term evolution of organisms with gen- Brazil. She has also examined the evolutionary origins eration times that are short relative to that of humans of invasive plants that encroach on wetlands in the can be observed in real time, both in the laboratory Science, Evolution, and Creationism 63

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How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.

In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including "intelligent design." The book explores the many fascinating inquiries being pursued that put the science of evolution to work in preventing and treating human disease, developing new agricultural products, and fostering industrial innovations. The book also presents the scientific and legal reasons for not teaching creationist ideas in public school science classes.

Mindful of school board battles and recent court decisions, Science, Evolution, and Creationism shows that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world rather than as frameworks that are in conflict with each other and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. For educators, students, teachers, community leaders, legislators, policy makers, and parents who seek to understand the basis of evolutionary science, this publication will be an essential resource.

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