Upon her retirement in June of 2018, CSCS sponsored a symposium in honor of Bobbi Low.  Her effect as a mentor evident in the number of past students that travelled long distances to attend the event.  She has chaired or co-chaired over 150 graduate student theses, and has won awards for both undergraduate and doctoral mentorship.  

As is the case with most Complex Systems Affiliated Faculty members, Bobbi’s research interests were many and varied.  Loosely it can be ascribed to working around behavioral ecology and life history theory. Her book Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior is now in its second printing. 

The Human Behavior & Evolution Society (HBES) Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution is awarded to HBES members who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in evolution and human behavior.  Bobbi Low was chosen as recipient for the 2019 prize.

“[HBES] serves all those studying the evolution of human behavior. Scientific perspectives range from evolutionary psychology to evolutionary anthropology and cultural evolution. The society’s worldwide membership includes researchers from a range of disciplines in the social and biological sciences.”

On February 5, 2020, HBES published an interview with the esteemed professor emerita; “Bobbi Low is also a pioneer, a path-breaker, and a research powerhouse—but you knew that. So we decided to ask Bobbi a bunch of questions to find out some information we didn’t know before, and also to take advantage of her perspective on evolutionary social science over her eminent career.”

top photo:  Professor Bobbi Low and Thorin