David C. Queller is a leading evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his BA from The University of Illinois in 1976, and his PhD from The University Michigan in 1982. He was on the faculty of Rice University in Houston, Texas from 1989 till 2011, and was Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor in Natural Sciences in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His work focuses on both theoretical and empirical aspects of the evolution of social interactions, including both sexual selection and kin selection. Recent theoretical studies have focused on generalizing inclusive fitness theory, the role of relatedness in viscous populations, and the importance of demographic advantages in the evolution of sociality in insects. He has also developed methods for estimating genetic relatedness using genetic markers and this work led to an extensive collaboration with Joan E. Strassmann on the importance of genetic relatedness in the evolution of social insects. They use DNA microsatellite markers to study altruism and conflict in both social insects and cellular slime molds.
Honors, Awards, Elected Positions
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2008.
Council Delegate, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section of Biological Sciences, 2007-2010.
President, North American Section of the International Society for the Study of Social Insects, 2005-6.
Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 2004.
Elected Councilor of Society for the Study of Evolution 2003-5.
Elected member, of Scientia (an institute for the history of science and culture) 2003.
Gold Award for best article in Scholarly Journals/Feature Article category. For “Kin selection in social insects”, by Queller & Strassmann. Society of Association Journals (SNAP) 1999.
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, The evolution of altruism. 1988.
Sigma Xi (elected 1987).
American Society of Naturalists, Young Investigator Award, 1985.
N.A.T.O. Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Sussex. 1983. 1 year.
N.S.F. Predoctoral Fellowship. 1976. 3 years.
Phi Beta Kappa (elected 1976).
Contact Information:
Mailbox:
Department of Biology
Washington University in St. Louis
Campus Box 1137
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
Email:
queller@wustl.edu
Social Evolution and Multicellularity 