Marlene Zuk
Marlene Zuk (born May 20, 1956) is an American evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist. She worked as professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) until she transferred to the University of Minnesota in 2012. Her studies involve sexual selection and parasites. Biography. Zuk was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and she is a native of Los Angeles. Living in the city, she became interested in insects at a young age. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Zuk started majoring in English, but decided to switch to Biology. After earning her bachelor's degree, she wrote  and taught for three years. In 1982, she and W. D. Hamilton proposed the "good genes" hypothesis of sexual selection. Zuk started attending the University of Michigan in 1986 and earned her Doctor of Philosophy. She completed her postdoctoral research at the University of New Mexico. She joined the UCR faculty in 1989. In April 2012, Zuk and her husband John Rotenberry transferred to the University of Minnesota, where they both work at its College of Biological Sciences. Zuk has received honorary doctorates from Sweden's Uppsala University (2010) and the University of Jyväskylä in Finland (2016). Work. Research Interests . Zuk's research of interest deals with the evolution of sexual behavior (especially in relation to parasites), mate choice, and Animal behavior. A recurring theme in Zuk's writing and lectures is feminism and women in science. Zuk is critical of the paleolithic diet. In 1996 Zuk was awarded a continuing grant by the National Science Foundation for an investigation into the ways that variation in females effects sexual selection and what qualities in males indicate vigor. Women in Science. Zuk is outspoken about promoting women in science. In 2018, Zuk published an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times . Titled, "There's nothing inherent about the fact that men outnumber women in the sciences," the article countered recurring suggestions that women are underrepresented in scientific fields due to inherent preferences toward the humanities. By highlighting the inextricable relationship between nature and nurture, she points out the impossibility of attributing female underrepresentation in science to any inborn cause. Citing essential scientific integrity, she argues that until boys and girls are raised under identical circumstances one could not possibly prove any inherent female leanings towards or away from the sciences. Selected works. Her books and articles include: College Leadership. Zuk is  a professor in the department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences. She is the Associate Dean for Faculty. Awards and honors. In 2015 Zuk was the recipient of the Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award by the American Society of Naturalists. Zuk was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019. The Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology named their scholarship award for outstanding oral presentation in the division of animal behavior after her.