2013 Illg Distinguisted Lectureship
The Friday Habor Labs 2013 Illg Distinguished Lecturer was Dr. Gonzalo Giribet of Harvard University. On June 19th, Dr. Giribet presented a scientific lecture entitled "Understanding the Animal Tree of Life — from Morphology to Genomes" at the Friday Harbor Labs. Dr. Giribet also presented a free public lecture at the San Juan Community Theater on June 20th. This talk, “Around the world in search of invertebrates for species discovery, biogeography and systematics” was extremely well received by the local community and FHL students and researchers.
Dr. Giribet’s primary research focuses on the evolution and biogeography of invertebrate animals using morphology, molecular sequences and transcriptomic analysis. His talk featured invertebrates, which dominate all the ecosystems on earth and are perfect models for studying the patterns of distribution of organisms in our planet. During the past decade he has collected invertebrates in all continents and all oceans and discovered new species to address biodiversity questions and to study biogeographic and phylogenetic patterns.
This endowed lecture series is presented in honor of Professor Paul L. Illg, who made many important contributions as a scientist, teacher, mentor, and friend. Paul excelled as a faculty member of the UW Zoology Department from 1952 - 1982. An expert in the biology of crustaceans, he participated in many summer sessions at Friday Harbor Laboratories. He invited world-renowned scholars to FHL to join him in teaching invertebrate biology and thus greatly enhanced the quality of the graduate program and research at the Laboratories. This lectureship endowment was established through memorial gifts from Paul’s family, friends and colleagues.
