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Marvalee Hendricks Wake (born July 31, 1939) is an American zoologist and professor at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, known for her research in the biology of
caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of ...
s (limbless amphibians) and vertebrate development and evolution. A 1988
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, she has served as president of the
American Institute of Biological Sciences The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific charity. The organization’s mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science and society. Overvie ...
, the
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of the ...
,
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology is organized to integrate the many fields of specialization which occur in the broad field of biology.. The society was formed in 1902 as the American Society of Zoologists, through the merger of ...
,
International Union of Biological Sciences The International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) is a non-profit organization and non-governmental organization, founded in 1919, that promotes the biological sciences internationally. As a scientific umbrella organization it was a founding m ...
, and the International Society of Vertebrate Morphology. She is a
fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
and the
California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...
, and is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.


Life

Marvalee Hendricks was born in
Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before ...
on July 31, 1939. She attended the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
(USC), earning a B.A. 1961; M.S. in 1964; and completing her Ph.D. in 1968 under herpetologist
Jay Savage Jay Mathers Savage (born August 1928 in Santa Monica, California) is an American herpetologist known for his research on reptiles and amphibians of Central America. He is a past president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists ...
. While at USC she met and married biologist David B. Wake and gave birth to a son. Wake became assistant professor at the
University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...
, and later she and her husband moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where David assumed directorship of the
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908. Alexander recommended zoologist Joseph Grinnell as museum director, ...
and Marvalee became a professor. She was rapidly promoted, eventually assuming the chair of the Department of Zoology and its successor, the Department of Integrative Biology. She nominally retired as professor in 2003, but remained active in research and since 2004 has held the position of Professor of the Graduate School at UC Berkeley. Wake is known as an expert in
caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of ...
s—a relatively little-known group of limbless amphibians—and her research has included the developmental biology, evolution, reproduction, and anatomy of these creatures. Her research has been credited with stimulating renewed world-wide interest in the group which has historically received little research. In her doctoral dissertation and a series of early papers she explored comparative aspects of caecilian reproductive anatomy, and in 1972 co-described the first evidence of caecilians in the fossil record. She is also recognized for her contributions towards the field of vertebrate
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
. Biologist Brian K. Hall writes: "Consistently, passionately and effectively, Marvalee Wake has advocated the teaching of morphology as a multifaceted modern science that informs evolutionary biology and evolutionary theory, and is foundational to integrative biology." She has formally collaborated with her husband—an expert in salamanders—since 1975, although the two maintain separate labs and graduate students. Wake has published or co-published over 200 journal articles and book chapters, edited a revision of the textbook ''Hyman's Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy'' (originally written by Libbie H. Hyman), and co-edited a general biology textbook (''Biology'', 1979) as well as the scholarly book ''The Origin and Evolution of Larval Forms'' (1999). Wake is commemorated in the name of the caecilian '' Microcaecilia marvaleewakeae'', and she and her husband are jointly commemorated in the names of the frog genus '' Wakea'' and the lizard ''
Cyrtodactylus wakeorum ''Cyrtodactylus wakeorum'' is a species of bent-toed gecko, a lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to Myanmar. Etymology The specific name, ''wakeorum'' (genitive plural), is in honor of American herpetologists David Burto ...
'' (Wakes' gecko). A
festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
of papers in her honor was published in the journal ''
Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
'' in 2005. Since 2013, Wake has been listed on the Advisory Council of the
National Center for Science Education The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit membership organization in the United States whose stated mission is to educate the press and the public on the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding t ...
. Wake has served as advisor to 17 doctoral students and 15 post-doctoral students. In 2014 she received the Henry S. Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology from the
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of the ...
.


Books

* * *


References


External links


Faculty profile
UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology
Lab of Marvalee H. Wake
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wake, Marvalee H. American herpetologists Evolutionary biologists 1939 births Living people Women evolutionary biologists Herpetologists Women zoologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Southern California alumni University of Illinois Chicago faculty Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American zoologists 21st-century American zoologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists People from Orange, California