Marvalee Wake facts for kids

Marvalee Hendricks Wake (born July 31, 1939) is an American zoologist and professor. She teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Wake is famous for her studies on caecilians, which are amphibians without limbs, and how vertebrates (animals with backbones) develop and change over time.

In 1988, she received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has also led many important scientific groups, including the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. She is a respected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Early Life and Education

Marvalee Hendricks was born in Orange, California, on July 31, 1939. She went to the University of Southern California (USC). There, she earned her bachelor's degree in 1961, her master's degree in 1964, and her Ph.D. in 1968. Her main teacher for her Ph.D. was Jay Savage, an expert in reptiles and amphibians.

While at USC, she met and married another biologist, David B. Wake. They had a son together.

Academic Career

After finishing her studies, Dr. Wake became an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Later, she and her husband moved to the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, David Wake became the director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Marvalee Wake also became a professor there.

She quickly advanced in her career, eventually becoming the head of the Department of Zoology. This department later became the Department of Integrative Biology. She officially retired as a professor in 2003. However, she has remained very active in her research. Since 2004, she has held the title of Professor of the Graduate School at UC Berkeley.

Research on Caecilians and Vertebrate Morphology

Dr. Wake is known as a leading expert on caecilians. These are a group of amphibians that look like worms or snakes because they don't have legs. They are not very well-known, and not many scientists study them.

Her research has looked at many aspects of caecilians. This includes how they develop from eggs, how they have evolved over time, how they reproduce, and the structure of their bodies. Her work has made scientists around the world much more interested in studying these unique creatures. In 1972, she helped describe the very first evidence of caecilians found as fossils.

Dr. Wake is also recognized for her important work in vertebrate morphology. This field is the study of the form and structure of animals with backbones. Another biologist, Brian K. Hall, has said that Marvalee Wake has always strongly supported teaching morphology. He noted that she sees it as a modern science that helps us understand how living things evolve.

Since 1975, Dr. Wake has worked closely with her husband, David B. Wake, who is an expert on salamanders. Even though they work together, they have their own separate labs and students.

Publications and Recognition

Dr. Wake has written or co-written over 200 scientific articles and book chapters. She also helped update a textbook called Hyman's Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy. She co-edited a general biology textbook in 1979 and a scholarly book titled The Origin and Evolution of Larval Forms in 1999.

Her contributions to science have been honored in several ways. A type of caecilian, Microcaecilia marvaleewakeae, is named after her. She and her husband are also jointly honored in the names of a frog group, Wakea, and a lizard, Cyrtodactylus wakeorum (Wakes' gecko). In 2005, a special collection of papers was published in the journal Zoology to celebrate her work.

Since 2013, Dr. Wake has been part of the Advisory Council for the National Center for Science Education.

Dr. Wake has guided many students in their scientific journeys. She has advised 17 students who earned their doctoral degrees and 15 post-doctoral students. In 2014, she received the Henry S. Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology. This award came from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.