{{Short description|American agriculturalist}} '''Virginia Walbot''' (born 1946) is an American agriculturalist and botanist who is an emeritus professor<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Faculty profile of Virginia Walbot |url=https://profiles.stanford.edu/virginia-walbot?releaseVersion=11.5.3 |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=Stanford Profiles}}</ref> in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. She investigates maize development with a focus on factors involved in male sterility.<ref>[Wang, Dongxue, David S. Skibbe, and Virginia Walbot. "''Maize Male Sterile 8 (Ms8), A Putative Β-1,3-Galactosyltransferase, Modulates Cell Division, Expansion, And Differentiation During Early Maize Anther Development.''" Plant Reproduction 26.4 (2013): 329-338. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Feb. 2014.]</ref>
==Life== Walbot first began working with corn when she used to help grow and sell it on her family's farm in Southern California.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=AgWeb Staff |title=Unraveling the Mysteries of the Sex Life of Corn |journal=Farm Journal |date=11 September 2011 |url=https://www.agweb.com/article/unraveling_the_mysteries_of_the_sex_life_of_corn_LN |accessdate=22 October 2020}}</ref>
In 1967, Walbot received a B.A. degree in biology at Stanford University.<ref name=":1" /> In 1969–1972, she attended Yale to work on embryogenesis, where she earned an M.Phil. and Ph.D. She completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Georgia in the laboratory of Leon Dure.<ref name=":2" /> She was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis from 1975 to 1980.<ref name=":2" /> During this period of her academic career, Walbot started working on maize genetics via collaborations with Ed Coe at the University of Missouri.<ref name=":1" /> In 1981, Walbot returned to Stanford as a professor in the Department of Biology.<ref name=":1" />
In 1978, Walbot was invited by geneticist Barbara McClintock to visit her laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where Walbot spent several weeks learning about maize genetics and transposable elements. A subsequent visit in 1982 further shaped Walbot’s research direction, contributing to her long-term focus on maize development, reproduction, and transposon biology.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Biography for ASPB Pioneer Member: Virginia Walbot |url=https://aspb.org/membership/aspb-pioneer-members/pioneer-virginia-walbot/ |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=ASPB Pioneer Member: Virginia Walbot}}</ref>
Walbot participates in scientific societies including the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), the Genetics Society of America, and International Society for Plant Molecular Biology.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hageman Lecturer |url=https://www.k-state.edu/bmb/seminars/hageman/2001-walbot.html |accessdate=15 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
She has published two books, ''Developmental Biology'' (1987), and ''The Maize Handbook'' (1993).<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Curriculum Vitae|url=https://web.stanford.edu/~walbot/cv/cv_walbot.pdf|accessdate=15 December 2014}}</ref>
==Honors and awards== *Barbara McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies, Maize Genetics Cooperation (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=McClintock Prize awardees |url=https://www.maizegdb.org/mgc/awards/winners_mcclintock.php |access-date=2026-01-18}}</ref> *Recognized as a Pioneer Member of the American Society of Plant Biologists. <ref name=":1" /> *Corresponding Member, Mexican Academy of Sciences (2004) *Hageman Lectureship, Kansas State University (2001) *Joan V. Wood Lectureship, Indiana University (1999) *Explorer Award, National Geographic Society (1998) *Eppley Award, Eppley Foundation (1993) *Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation (1987) *Belk Award, Miami University of Ohio (1985) *Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1981) *Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIH (1972–1975) *Predoctoral fellowship, NSF (1969–1972)<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.stanford.edu/~walbot/ The Walbot Lab at Stanford University] * [https://web.stanford.edu/~walbot/cv/cv_walbot.pdf CV] * {{cite news|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18825679|title=Stanford scientist studies the sex life of corn|author=Lisa M. Krieger|date= 4 September 2011|work=San Jose Mercury News}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walbot, Virginia}} Category:Living people Category:American agriculturalists Category:Stanford University faculty Category:American women botanists Category:American botanists Category:Stanford University Department of Biology faculty Category:1946 births Category:21st-century American women