Passing of Dr. Lila O. Vodkin
It is with great sadness we report the passing of Dr. Lila O. Vodkin. Dr. Vodkin.
Dr. Lila Vodkin passed away on Thursday, June 20th, 2024 in Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, IL. She was Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagn. Dr. Vodkin received a B.S. in Physics and a M.S. in Biology at the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Vodkin received her Doctorate of Genetics from the North Carolina State University. Dr. Vodkin began her professional career as a Research Geneticist with the USDA in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Beltsville, MD. She moved to the University of Illinois where she served as an Associate Professor from 1987-1995. She was promoted to Professor in 1995 and held that position until her retirement in 2014. She was also named to the Adlai Ewing Chair in Soybean Biology from 2004-2014. Dr. Vodkin received several awards and honors including the Paul Funk Award in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagn in 2003, the Senior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research in the College of ACES, the List of Excellent Instructors (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011), and the Researcher of the Year by the Illinois Soybean Association in 1993. In 2022 the soybean community recognized her contributions to soybean research by awarding her the William J. Morse Career Achievement Award.
Her scientific interests included soybean gene regulation, small-interfering RNA and gene regulation, gene co-regulation, expression flux analysis and microarray analysis and technologies. She was an author on over 100 manuscripts. Many of her manuscripts were of high impact and garnered a H-Index of 38 (Web of Science) with a median citation percentile of 70. Dr. Vodkin also helped prepare a new generation of scientists by mentoring many students along the way, including 10 masters, and 11 doctoral students.