Harvard biologist lectures as Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar

MOUNT VERNON — Harvard University biologist Richard Losick will give two lectures at Cornell on Sept. 11 and 12 as the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.

Losick will speak on “A Four-Dimensional View of the Bacterial Cell” on Monday, Sept. 11, at 3:15 p.m. The lecture, to be held in West Science Center Room 100, is intended primarily for biology faculty and students but is open to everyone. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, Losick will lecture on “How Simple Cells Talk to Each Other” at 11:10 a.m. in Hedges Conference Room of The Commons.

Losick joined the Harvard faculty in 1972; he is currently Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology. He served as chair of the department of molecular and cellular biology as well as of the department of cellular and developmental biology. He teaches the introductory course on molecular biology at Harvard College and is a recipient of the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. His research interests include gene expression and development in microorganisms.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Losick is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served in an advisory capacity to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and is currently on the editorial boards of Cell and Science. He is the co-editor of Microbial Development, RNA Polymerase and Development in Bacteria.

Among more than 3,600 U.S. colleges and universities, Cornell is one of only 255 with an active chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most select honorary society in the United States.