Barbara Stay, Professor Emerita, passed away at the age of 97 on February 6, 2024. Dr. Stay joined the Department of Zoology (now Biology) in 1967 and retired in 2008 after a productive career in research and teaching for over 40 years. She had an indelible influence on her peers and students and collaborated with scientists around the globe. Dr. Stay was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and received her bachelor’s degree at Vassar College in 1947. She went on to achieve an M.A. degree and then a Ph.D. in Biology at Radcliffe College/Harvard University in 1948 and 1953, respectively. Her career would take her to such places as Australia, Massachusetts, California, and Philadelphia before she arrived at the University of Iowa.
Her achievements have been recognized by numerous awards over the years including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1989), Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Iowa (1999), Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (2001), and Achievement Award in Invertebrate Neuropeptides (2008), to name a few.
Her recognition would extend beyond the scientific community as the lay press picked up on breakthrough discoveries made by Dr. Stay and her colleagues around the globe regarding cockroach milk. Dr. Stay, dubbed by colleagues as the “Cockroach Lady,” was believed to have had the world’s largest collection of cockroaches while at the University of Iowa. In an interview with USA Today in 2018, Dr. Stay said she believed she was the first person to ever milk a cockroach. Dr. Stay replaced embryos with filter paper inside pregnant cockroaches to soak up the nutritious milk the insect provides it’s developing young. According to Dr. Stay, it would take up to 48 hours to produce barely half a drop of cockroach milk, not exactly a process ready for mass consumption. “Goodness me, you wouldn’t want to milk cockroaches,” Stay said during the interview. While she had milked cockroaches for decades dating back to the 1950s, Dr. Stay said she never tasted cockroach milk and didn’t plan to. “Cow’s milk is good enough for me,” she said at the time.
In addition to training graduate and undergraduate students in research, Dr. Stay taught seminar courses on Insect Reproduction and Development, Histology, Histologic Technique, and Introductory Biology to large classes of non-majors. She was known for running a hard-working and welcoming research laboratory, for giving lectures easily understood by non-native English speakers, and her ice dancing agility. In fact, she participated in ice dancing events well into her 80s!
Dr. Stay’s obituary can be found here:
https://www.amigone.com/obituaries/Barbara-Ann-Stay?obId=30688096
Barbara Stay Memorial Lectureship
The Department of Biology will be establishing a Barbara Stay Memorial Lectureship in honor of Dr. Stay. This annual seminar will bring world-renowned researchers to campus to interact with students and faculty and deliver a memorial lecture. Gifts for this lectureship can be made during the University of Iowa’s 24-hour online giving day, One Day for Iowa, on March 26, 2025. And if you don't want to wait, you can make your gift today!
https://1dayforiowa.org/biology25