Bee Scientist Rob Page Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Page Is a UC Davis Alumnus and UC Davis/ASU Administrator Emeritus
Internationally renowned bee scientist Robert E. Page Jr., a UC Davis doctoral alumnus and a UC Davis/University of Arizona administrator emeritus, is a newly elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
NAS announced today the election of 120 members and 25 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Page pioneered the use of modern techniques to study the genetic basis of social behavior evolution in honey bees and other social insects. One of his most salient contributions to science was to construct the first genomic map of the honey bee, which sparked a variety of pioneering contributions not only to insect biology but to genetics at large. He was the first to employ molecular markers to study polyandry and patterns of sperm use in honey bees.
"Rob is arguably the most influential honey bee biologist of the past 30 years," said NAS member Walter Leal, UC Davis Distinguished Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. "We're delighted to see he's now a NAS member. Very well deserved!"
"I'm ecstatic," said Page, when reached by phone. "Walter Leal is a bulldog."
Page received his doctorate in entomology in 1980 from UC Davis. He joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989, and chaired the Department of Entomology from 1999 to 2004. After retiring from UC Davis in 2004, he accepted an appointment at ASU as founding director of the School of Life Sciences. He served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2011-2013, and provost of ASU from 2013-2015.
Today Page holds multiple titles, including UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Professor and Emeritus Chair of the UC Davis Entomology Department, and ASU University Provost Emeritus and Regents Professor Emeritus.
At UC Davis, Page worked closely with his mentor, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr., for whom the bee biology facility is named. Together they published many significant research papers and the landmark book, “Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding” (Wicwas Press, 1998), considered the most important resource book for honey bee genetics, breeding, and queen rearing.
For 24 years, from 1989 to 2015, Page maintained a UC Davis honey bee-breeding program, managed by bee breeder-geneticist Kim Fondrk. Their contributions include discovering a link between social behavior and maternal traits in bees. Their work was featured in a cover story in the journal Nature. In all, Nature featured his work on four covers from work mostly done at UC Davis.
Page authored three books: Honey Bee Genetics and Breeding (Wicwas Press, 2025), The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution (Harvard University Press, 2013) and the Art of the Bee: Shaping the Environment from Landscapes to Societies (Oxford University Press, 2020). In 2023, he launched a free and publicly accessible YouTube Channel, https://youtube.com/@artofthebee “to make science understandable.”
Among Page's many honors:
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Awardee of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (the Humboldt Prize, the highest honor given by the German government to foreign scientists)
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Elected to the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences (the longest continuing academy in the world)
- Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
- Fellow of the Entomological Society of America
- Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences
- Elected to the Brazilian Academy of Science
- Recipient of the James W. Creasman Award of Excellence from the Arizona State University Alumni Association
- Fellow, Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation, Munich, Germany, September 2017-August 2018
- Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award from UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
- Distinguished Emeritus Professor, UC Davis
- Exceptional Faculty Emeriti Award, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Another UC Davis faculty member elected to the NAS Class of 2026 is Professor Jeff Ross-Ibarra of the Department of Evolution and Ecology.
The NAS mission is to recognize and elevate outstanding science, foster a broad understanding of science, and oversee the National Research Council to produce and promote “independent, authoritative, trusted scientific advice to the government for the benefit of society.” NAS was established in 1863 as a private, nongovernmental institution.