Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Renowned scientist Gene E. Robinson to deliver CAS Lecture

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Gene E. Robinson, the Swanlund Chair of entomology and the director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, has been selected to deliver the Center for Advanced Study’s 23rd Annual Lecture, continuing the center’s tradition of showcasing the university’s most distinguished scholars. Robinson’s lecture, which begins at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 19 at Spurlock Museum on campus, is free and open to the public.

Robinson pioneered the study of how genes, hormones and neurochemicals influence the evolution of social behavior, using the Western honey bee as his principal model system. He leads the Honey Bee Genome Sequencing Consortium and the Illinois Bee Research Facility.

In his lecture, titled “Me to We: Searching for the Genetic Roots of Sociality,” Robinson will use the honey bee and related species to demonstrate how researchers who have used genomics to study the social life of insects in molecular terms have documented mechanisms that regulate selfish behavior. They also have documented connections between socially responsive genomes and human health.

Robinson has received Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, a National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award, and the Animal Behavior Society’s 2013 Distinguished Animal Behaviorist award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the Entomological Society of America. He has written or co-written more than 250 publications, and has been named a University Scholar and a G. William Arends Professor of Integrative Biology.

The Center for Advanced Study supports and promotes exemplary scholarship in all areas of knowledge at the university. Top professors become permanent members of CAS through nomination and a rigorous election process. Robinson has been a member since 2009.

Spurlock Museum is at 600 S. Gregory Drive, Urbana.

For more information, visit cas.illinois.edu.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010