Briggs HPS professor Dr. Robert Pennock was the recipient of this year's AIBS Outstanding Service Award. AIBS gives this national award to one person each year to recognizes noteworthy service to the biological sciences. In presenting Dr. Pennock with this honor, AIBS President May Barenbaum introduced him with a humorous comparison to a famous defender of evolutionary biology:

Thomas Henry Huxley was an British biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his impassioned advocacy of Darwin's theory of evolution, most famously debating the Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in 1860, in a pivotal moment in the history of biology. Astonishingly, 150 years later, the scientific community is still called upon to defend evolution in public debates. Today, Robert Pennock can be considered Darwinís Border Collie. "The bulldog's typical means of attack included latching onto the animal's snout and attempted to suffocate it" (Wikipedia), not a style that would play well in contemporary discourse. In contrast, border collies are extremely intelligent, nimble animals that can anticipate the moves of a target trying to avoid being moved in a particular direction. (http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/breeds/bordercollies.html). Extremely observant, "They notice every movement… and they react by moving, at times almost imperceptibly, to take advantage of or counter it. Movement… is calm and steady, and [they] are known for their intelligence, and strong work ethic."

Dr. Pennock is on the faculty of MSU's Lyman Briggs College, the Philosophy Department, and the Department of Computer Science, as well as the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior graduate program. His research interests include the philosophy of biology and the relationship of epistemic and ethical values in science. He is the author of Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism and Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives. He testified in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District federal court case that found that intelligent design is no different than creationism and should not be taught in science classes. Pennock serves on numerous advisory boards and committees and is the chair of the Education Committee of the Society for the Study of Evolution and is currently working on a book examining how Darwinian evolution, as an abstract theoretical model, can be applied practically beyond biology.