Mark E. Borrello

Associate Professor

Director of HST Program

Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

575 Shepherd Labs

+1 612 624 7079

+1 612 625 3838

borrello@umn.edu

Specialities
History of Biology, evolutionary theory, genetics and ecology, biology of behavior; biology and society

Bio
I am a historian of biology with a particular interest in evolutionary theory, genetics, behavior and the environment. My work explores the varied interpretations and applications of evolutionary theory from the late-19th century to the present. I completed my Ph.D. in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University (2002). During a post-doctoral teaching fellowship at Michigan's Lyman Briggs School of Science, I taught courses in the history of genetics and evolution, and was co-leader of a study abroad course in Panama on Tropical Biodiversity and Conservation. My book Evolutionary Restraints explores the group selection controversy.

Selected Publications
Evolutionary Restraints: The Contentious History of Group Selection (University of Chicago Press, 2010). Order through University of Chicago.

"Synthesis and Selection: Wynne Edwards Challenge to David Lack." Journal of the History of Biology 36 (2003): 531-566.

"Mutual Aid and Animal Dispersion: An Historical Analysis of Alternatives to Darwin." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 47 (2004): 15-31

"Radicals and Revolution: A Critical Examination of The Structure of Evolutionary Theory." Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences 35 (2004): 209-216.

"The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Group Selection." Endeavour 29 no. 1 (2005): 43-47.