David M. Hillis is the Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor in Integrative Biology and the Director of the Dean’s Scholars Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also has directed the School of Biological Sciences and the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. Dr. Hillis has taught courses in introductory biology, genetics, evolution, systematics, and biodiversity. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship, and has served as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution and of the Society of Systematic Biologists. He served on the National Research Council committee that wrote the report BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education for Research Biologists. His research interests span much of evolutionary biology, including experimental studies of viral evolution, empirical studies of natural molecular evolution, applications of phylogenetics, analyses of biodiversity, and evolutionarymodeling. He is particularly interested in teaching and research about the practical applications of evolutionary biology.