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About the Dr. Donald L. Mykles Distinguished Lecture Series:
The Dr. Donald L. Mykles Distinguished Lecture Series annually recognizes a leader in the field of integrative biology in marine or coastal environments by inviting them to deliver a research seminar and community lecture at the Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) of the University of California Davis. The Mykles Distinguished Lecture (MDL) will illustrate how integrative approaches to biology can be used to address questions that span levels of organization within organisms, across organisms, within ecosystems, and/or over evolutionary time. The MDL invitation to BML honors the recipient in a way that advances the academic community at BML and establishes enduring links between awardees and the BML community. The MDL Series was established through a generous gift from Don’s wife Vicki and son Christopher Mykles.
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About Dr. Donald L. Mykles:
Dr. Donald L. Mykles completed his Ph.D. at Bodega Marine Laboratory in the 1970s when the lab was a UC Berkeley field site. Don and his wife, Vicki, still visit BML several times each year, where Don works on local crabs for his NSF grant projects. As Northern California natives, they both enjoy connecting with friends and appreciate the exquisite natural beauty of Bodega Bay.
2024 Featured Lecturer
Dr. Adrienne Correa
Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley
Adrienne Correa is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley. She first learned to scuba dive in graduate school, while collecting invasive ants in the Hawaiian Islands. Adrienne's research turned to the ocean shortly thereafter, and today she explores the role of microbes in the health of coral reefs that are experiencing rapid environmental change. She serves on the Advisory Council for the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a home to California’s corals. Her research and teaching have taken her to coral reefs around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico, Australia, Belize, Panama, and the South Pacific.
2023 Featured Lecturer
Dr. Melissa Pespeni
Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont
Melissa Pespeni is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont, Director of Quantitative and Evolutionary STEM Training (QuEST) PhD program, and recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Dr. Pespeni is an evolutionary biologist whose work aims to understand the genetic bases of complex traits and how organisms adapt to current and future environmental variation. She publishes in the leading journals of her field including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Communications, and Proceedings of the Royal Society, and has given several keynote seminars at premier, international conferences. As the Director of QuEST, Dr. Pespeni aims to shift the dialogue in higher education to focus on diverse lived experiences as assets and to offer broader training opportunities in graduate education such as improv for science communication and applied internships with non-academic partners. Dr. Pespeni received her Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University and a B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Critical Gender Studies from the University of California, San Diego.