UC Davis geology professor Geerat Vermeij, recognized internationally for advancing the understanding of evolutionary biology, is one of 14 individuals honored this year by the National Academy of Sciences for their outstanding contributions to science. Vermeij will receive the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal and a prize of $5,000 for "extracting major generalizations about biological evolution from the fossil record, by feeling details of shell anatomy that other scientists only see." The world's leading authority on an ancient "arms race" among mollusks, Vermeij has been blind since age 3. He studied at Princeton and Yale and was a professor at the University of Maryland before he joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989. In 1992, he received the MacArthur "genius" Award. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science advice to national policy makers under a congressional charter. The Elliott medal and prize are awarded only every four years. They were established in 1917 by a gift of Margaret Henderson Elliot. The awards will be presented on May 1 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., during the academy's 137th annual meeting.