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David Epel
Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor of Marine Sciences, Emeritus
David Epel is the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California. His research in reproductive biology led to foundational discoveries in cell division, fertilization, and ecological developmental biology (eco-devol-biology). Over a career spanning more than four decades, he mentored generations of scientists and helped establish new directions in developmental and environmental biology.
Professor Epel has been an author of 200 research papers. He is co-author, with Scott Gilbert, of Ecological Developmental Biology (2009; 2nd ed. 2015), the first textbook defining the eco-devo (ecological and developmental biology) field.
Epel was Assistant Professor at Hopkins Marine Station from 1965-1970. He accepted an appointment as Associate Professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1970 and was appointed Professor there in 1973. He returned to Hopkins as a Professor in 1977 and was the first holder of the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Chair in Marine Sciences. He retired in 2009. His Stanford teaching included being Resident Professor in the Stanford Overseas Program at Oxford University in 2002. He also led Stanford Alumni Educational Travel Programs to Baja California, Belize, Alaska, and the Galápagos Islands in the 1980’s.
Epel was also on the faculty of the iconic Summer Courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. These included the Gamete Physiology Course in 1972 and as co-Director of the Embryology Course in the summers of 1975-1977.
Internationally he was on the faculty of two UNESCO course sin Gamete Physiology that focused on students from Africa and the Middle East. He was on the faculty of the National Science Foundation International Course in Polar Biology at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica in 1996.
He has served on the boards of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Executive Committee of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club, and as an advisor to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU Monterey Bay.
David Epel was born in 1937 and raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father, an immigrant from Lithuania, was a rabbi, and his mother was from Russia. He grew up in a household that valued learning, intellectual curiosity, and public service.
A formative influence in his life was his older brother, Joseph. Joseph was sixteen years his senior, had a PhD in physical chemistry and played a decisive role in fostering David’s early interest in science. As a boy, David persuaded his father to purchase a mail-order microscope advertised in a comic book, which promised to reveal a fascinating microscopic world. Although the microscope itself was of poor quality, the accompanying book captured his imagination.
Recognizing his enthusiasm, Joseph later found his younger brother a well-used but high-quality 1892 Zeiss microscope. This allowed David to culture protozoa and explore biology firsthand. This early exposure to microscopy and experimental observation set the course for his lifelong engagement. David’s younger brother, Bernard, was also influenced by Joseph and also went on to earn a PhD in the life sciences.
Professor Epel lives in Carmel, California, with his wife, Lois Ambush Epel. They have three daughters and four grandchildren.
Professor Epel has been an author of 200 research papers. He is co-author, with Scott Gilbert, of Ecological Developmental Biology (2009; 2nd ed. 2015), the first textbook defining the eco-devo (ecological and developmental biology) field.
Epel was Assistant Professor at Hopkins Marine Station from 1965-1970. He accepted an appointment as Associate Professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1970 and was appointed Professor there in 1973. He returned to Hopkins as a Professor in 1977 and was the first holder of the Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Chair in Marine Sciences. He retired in 2009. His Stanford teaching included being Resident Professor in the Stanford Overseas Program at Oxford University in 2002. He also led Stanford Alumni Educational Travel Programs to Baja California, Belize, Alaska, and the Galápagos Islands in the 1980’s.
Epel was also on the faculty of the iconic Summer Courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. These included the Gamete Physiology Course in 1972 and as co-Director of the Embryology Course in the summers of 1975-1977.
Internationally he was on the faculty of two UNESCO course sin Gamete Physiology that focused on students from Africa and the Middle East. He was on the faculty of the National Science Foundation International Course in Polar Biology at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica in 1996.
He has served on the boards of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Executive Committee of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club, and as an advisor to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at CSU Monterey Bay.
David Epel was born in 1937 and raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father, an immigrant from Lithuania, was a rabbi, and his mother was from Russia. He grew up in a household that valued learning, intellectual curiosity, and public service.
A formative influence in his life was his older brother, Joseph. Joseph was sixteen years his senior, had a PhD in physical chemistry and played a decisive role in fostering David’s early interest in science. As a boy, David persuaded his father to purchase a mail-order microscope advertised in a comic book, which promised to reveal a fascinating microscopic world. Although the microscope itself was of poor quality, the accompanying book captured his imagination.
Recognizing his enthusiasm, Joseph later found his younger brother a well-used but high-quality 1892 Zeiss microscope. This allowed David to culture protozoa and explore biology firsthand. This early exposure to microscopy and experimental observation set the course for his lifelong engagement. David’s younger brother, Bernard, was also influenced by Joseph and also went on to earn a PhD in the life sciences.
Professor Epel lives in Carmel, California, with his wife, Lois Ambush Epel. They have three daughters and four grandchildren.
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Medical School Johnson Research Foundation Laboratory under the direction of Britton Chance, Cell Biology (1965)
PhD, UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA, under the direction of Daniel Mazia, Cell Biology (1963)
BA, Wayne State University, Detroit Michigan, Biology (1958)