Jeffrey Palmer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Class of 1955 Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences was recently presented with the highest honor an IU president can bestow.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie awarded Palmer and Robert Einterz, executive director of the AMPATH consortium and director of the IU Center for Global Health, the President's Medal for Excellence during the 13th annual Academic Excellence Dinner at IUPUI on Oct. 28.
"Tonight, I want to recognize two faculty members who have earned enormous distinction and whose work at Indiana University has contributed in major ways to the university's continued strength and excellence in the areas of the life sciences and global health," IU President McRobbie said at the event.
Palmer has recently retired from IU after serving for 30 years on the faculty.
"Professor Palmer is a world-renowned expert on plant molecular evolution and phylogeny," McRobbie said. "A member of the IU faculty since 1989, Professor Palmer has made landmark discoveries spanning topics as diverse as plant phylogeny and the evolution of introns, segments of genes that are removed as part of the gene expression process."
While serving at IU, Palmer was instrumental in the development of Simon Hall, the multidisciplinary science building dedicated and opened in Bloomington in 2007 and has trained 40 postdoctoral fellows and 20 graduate students.
He has been identified as one of the top 15 researchers in the world in the field of plant and animal science by the Institute for Scientific Information. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has also been awarded the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies by the Maize Genetics Executive Committee, a professional organization for scientists and researchers working in the field of maize genetics.
The President's Medal for Excellence is awarded for outstanding academic, artistic, or professional accomplishments or for exceptional service to IU. The silver medal is a replica of the jewel of office IU's president wears during ceremonies.
The College of Arts 
