Behavior Faculty

We investigate causal, developmental, functional, and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior. This includes analyzing genetic, neural and psychological mechanisms underlying behavior, with a focus on the neurobiology of learning and memory, the behavioral ecology of species interactions, and the role of mating behavior and in species divergence.

Benjamin L. de Bivort

Benjamin L. de Bivort

  • Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

debivort@oeb.harvard.edu
de Bivort Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Mathematical and Computational Biology FacultyNeuroethology and Behavioral Ecology Faculty Physiology Faculty

Discovering why individuals behave uniquely by linking automated quantification of behavior to variation at the molecular, cellular and neural circuit levels

Scott Edwards

Scott V. Edwards

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Curator of Ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Co-Director of Graduate Studies

sedwards@fas.harvard.edu
Edwards Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biodiversity and Systematics FacultyMathematical and Computational Biology FacultyNeuroethology and Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation and Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Evolutionary biology of birds and relatives, combining field, museum and genomics approaches to understand the basis of avian diversity, evolution and behavior

David A. Haig

David A. Haig

  • George Putnam Professor of Biology
  • Co-Director of Graduate Studies

dhaig@oeb.harvard.edu
Haig Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Mathematical and Computational Biology FacultyNeuroethology and Behavioral Ecology Faculty

Maternal-fetal conflict in human pregnancy to the evolution of plant life cycles; particular interest in genetic conflicts within individual organisms, as exemplified by genomic imprinting

Hopi Hoekstra

Hopi E. Hoekstra

  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Harvard College Professor
  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • Curator of Mammalogy in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

hoekstra@oeb.harvard.edu
Hoekstra Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biodiversity and Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology FacultyNeuroethology and Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation and Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Identifying and characterizing the molecular changes responsible for traits that affect fitness of organisms in the wild; using wild mice to study the genetic basis of morphological and behavior adaptation

Martin A. Nowak

Martin A. Nowak

  • Professor of Mathematics and Biology
  • Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics

Nowak Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Mathematical and Computational Biology FacultyPopulation and Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Initiated the field of virus dynamics which led to quantitative understanding of HIV infection; evolution of cooperation

Bence P. Olveczky

Bence P. Ölveczky

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Co-Director of Graduate Studies

olveczky@fas.harvard.edu
Ölveczky Lab

Behavior Faculty Neuroethology and Behavioral Ecology Faculty

Principles and mechanisms used by neural circuits to generate complex, learned behaviors

Naomi E. Pierce

Naomi E. Pierce

  • Sidney A. and John H. Hessel Professor of Biology
  • Curator of Lepidoptera in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows

npierce@oeb.harvard.edu
N. Pierce Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biodiversity and Systematics FacultyNeuroethology and Behavioral Ecology Faculty

Behavioral ecology and evolution, focusing on species interactions such as insect/host plant associations and symbioses between insects and other organisms; life history evolution and systematics of Lepidoptera

Stephanie E. Pierce

Stephanie E. Pierce

  • Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

spierce@oeb.harvard.edu
S. Pierce Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biomechanics Faculty Paleobiology Faculty

Assessing link between form and function of the vertebrate skeletal system – especially with respect to muscle/skeletal interactions during feeding and locomotor behaviors in modern and extinct animals

Yun Zhang

Yun Zhang

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

yzhang@oeb.harvard.edu
Zhang Lab

Behavior Faculty Neuroethology and Behavioral Ecology Faculty

How structure and function of neural circuits regulate complex behavior, including olfactory learning