David Epel : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- David Epel, the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor of Marine Sciences, Emeritus, speaks about his early years and education, his research on fertilization and development in the marine environment, and his faculty career at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He shares stories of sea urchins, undergraduate research discoveries during the Spring Course at Hopkins, the collegiality of the Department of Biological Sciences, and his work on the impact of DDT and other chemicals on the oceans.
- Summary
- [00:00:00 – 00:32:52] Family background • Growing up in Detroit • Early interest in science and influence of his older brother, Joe • Studying biology at Wayne University with Dominic DeGiusti and Larry Levine • Graduate school at the UC Berkeley in Dan Mazia’s lab; research on role ATP in cell division • Post-doc at Penn with Britton Chance; discovery of increased fluorescence after fertilization in sea urchin eggs • Joining the Stanford biology faculty at the Hopkins Marine Station in 1965 [00:32:52 – 00:51:20] Teaching the undergraduate research Spring Course at Hopkins • Getting into embryology, or developmental biology • Discoveries by undergraduate students in the Spring Course • Prophetic speech about the health of oceans at the Commonwealth Club in the late 1960s and concern about global pollution by PCBs and DDT • Politics surrounding tenure and doing public facing research [00:51:20 – 01:24:42] Leaving the Hopkins Marine Station for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD • Departmental politics • Returning to Stanford and the Hopkins Marine Station • Teaching • Career trajectories of former students [01:24:42 – 02:05:01] Studying tributyltin on sea urchin embryos and multidrug transporters • Controversy studying DDT and fragrances • How the university changed and regrets about decreasing his interactions with the main campus • Work with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA • Family life and his daughters’ careers • Memories of Cornelis van Niel • Retirement
Description
| Type of resource | sound recording-nonmusical, text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 audio file; 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | February 19, 2019 - |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Epel, David | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Epel, David | |
| Interviewer | Maher, Susan | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Epel, David |
|---|---|
| Subject | Hopkins Marine Station |
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Biology |
| Subject | Polychlorinated biphenyls |
| Subject | Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | David Epel received his PhD in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Daniel Mazia. He joined Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in 1965. In 1970, he accepted a position at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institute of Oceanography. He returned to Hopkins in 1977, where he remained until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 2009. Epel’s research focused on fertilization and development in the marine environment, often using sea urchin gametes. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, the Cox Medal for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research at Stanford, and the Ed Ricketts Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Marine Sciences, and he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the California Academy of Sciences. |
|---|---|
| Transcript |
|
| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/tn225vz2643 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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