Mary Jane West-Eberhard, CHR Vice Chair

Mary Jane West-Eberhard is a Senior Scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and is based at the Escuela de Biologia at the University of Costa Rica. She is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy), the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, and the Society for the Study of Evolution (of which she was president in 1991), among others. Dr. West-Eberhard graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D. in 1967. She has written several books, including, in 2003, Developmental Plasticity and Evolution; Natural History and Evolution of Paper-Wasps, with Stefano Turillazzia; and The Social Biology of Polistine Wasps. In 2003, she won the R.R. Hawkins Award for Outstanding Professional, Reference or Scholarly Work.