Janet Mann

Janet Mann is a Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Biology and Psychology at Georgetown University, where she has held academic roles since 1988. She previously served as Vice Provost for Research (2013–2017). Her research focuses on animal behavior, particularly bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, examining social networks, tool use, and cultural transmission. Mann’s work integrates long-term field studies with interdisciplinary approaches, addressing conservation, ecology, and animal cognition.

Education: Sc.B. in Psychology from Brown University; M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychobiology from the University of Michigan. She has authored over 130 scientific papers and co-authored influential books like Deep Thinkers and Cetacean Societies, recognized with multiple awards.

Research interests include dolphin social learning, calf development, and the impact of human activities on marine mammals. Her team’s Shark Bay Dolphin Research Project tracks over 1,800 dolphins, emphasizing international collaboration. Recent studies extend to the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, exploring local dolphin populations and health dynamics.

Awards and grants: Fellowships at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study, National Science Foundation support since 1997, and the Inaugural Fellow of Society for Marine Mammalogy (2021). Her mentoring efforts have been nationally recognized, supporting over 120 students through fieldwork and lab opportunities.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project and collaborates globally on dolphin conservation. Her lab emphasizes undergraduate and graduate research, integrating fieldwork with analytical methods like network analysis and deep learning.