Sept. 8, 2010

Metamorphosis is stressful. So said SNRE professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Bobbi Low to incoming University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School students in the keynote lecture of the fall welcome ceremony on September 2.  Professor Low, who used to research toad skin secretions, likened new doctoral students to tadpoles, which have no reproductive organs; by the time the students graduate, they will be metaphorical toads, producing new research and generating ideas.

Professor Low, who has mentored more than 50 SNRE graduate students and received the Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award in 2007, also gave the lecture in fall 2009. The decision to invite Professor Low to deliver the keynote address was made by Rackham's deans and directors, said Lynne Shivers, event coordinator for Rackham. "In  part it was because of Professor Low's outstanding record of mentoring  graduate students over the years; also, as it was our  first year having a keynote speaker, we wanted someone who would be engaging and thoughtful," said Shivers. "Professor Low met both criteria and received high evaluation marks from the audience. The decision to invite her for a second year was an easy one."

In the course of explaining the distinct culture of the academy, varying expectations across disciplines and the importance of finding mentors and establishing networks, Professor Low's slide presentation likened the graduate student to a rat in a maze and a lone wolf howling at the moon, and suggested that mentoring professors might be benevolent angels, howling demons or benignly oblivious mother ducks.

"You can love your metamorphosis,"  she said. "And Rackham is here to help."

Some student comments from evaluations of last year's lecture included "wonderful elaboration, she is great,"  "brilliantly presented," "every fun, lively discussion,"  and "Professor Low's address made my friend and I both wish she were our adviser."

Professor Low is the author of "Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior" (Princeton University Press, 2001) and a co-editor of "Institutions, Ecosystems, and Sustainability" (Lewis Publishers, 2000) and "An Introduction to Methods & Models in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology"  (Princeton University Press, 2010). Her research includes ecological tradeoffs of marsupialism, fish schooling, kangaroo foraging, the biology of sex differences, sexual attitudes and behavior in Thailand, sex roles in war and politics, reproductive behavior and the demographic transition in 19^th-century Sweden, the evolutionary role of body fat and ornamentation, and the role of unpredictability in risk taking.