Prof. Scott V. Edwards Harvard University, USA

Scott Edwards is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, and Curator of Ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard University. He is an evolutionary biologist, with diverse interests in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, comparative genomics and population genetics. His research uses birds as model systems, focusing on their evolutionary... read morehistory and genome evolution, and fieldwork across the globe. He did his postdoctoral work at the University of Florida to study interactions of birds and infectious diseases. This work led him to study the large-scale structure of the avian genome, and informed his current interest in using comparative genomics to study the genetic basis of convergent evolution and phenotypic innovation in birds. Scott has served as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, the Society of Systematic Biologists, and the American Genetic Association, as well as on the Advisory Boards of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. From 2013-2015 Scott served as Division Director of the Division of Biological Infrastructure at the US National Science Foundation, where he facilitated funding in areas such as undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral research experiences, supporting biological collections, and major infrastructure and bioinformatics. He is an Elected Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (2009), the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the US National Academy of Sciences (2015). He has a long-standing interest in increasing the diversity of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in evolutionary biology and biodiversity science.