Kendra Sewall

Kendra Sewall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech, focusing on animal behavior and neurobiology. Her research explores how environmental factors such as urbanization, social dynamics, and early life conditions affect cognition, communication, and neural mechanisms in songbirds.

• Education: Ph.D. in Animal Behavior (University of California, Davis, 2008); B.A. in Biology (Middlebury College, 2000).
• Appointments: Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech since 2013; Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Her work investigates the interplay between environmental stressors, hormone regulation (e.g., glucocorticoids, testosterone), and behavioral adaptations in urban and rural songbird populations. Recent studies examine territorial aggression, maternal investment, telomere dynamics, and neuroplasticity in response to urbanization.

Publications highlight expertise in neuroendocrinology, behavioral ecology, and urban ecology, with a focus on species like song sparrows and zebra finches. Awards include the Fralin Life Sciences Institute Young Investigator Award and NIH IRACDA/SPIRE Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship.

• 2018 Service Award, Virginia Tech
• 2014 Fralin Life Sciences Institute Young Investigator Award ($10,000)
• 2013 Virginia Tech Mentoring Grant ($1,500)
• 2013 American Ornithologists’ Union Travel Award ($800)
• 2008-2010 IRACDA/SPIRE Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship, NIH

The Sewall Lab employs interdisciplinary approaches, including brain omics and gene manipulation, to study wild avian species. Current research addresses urbanization's impact on stress physiology, aggression, and genetic structure, while also exploring social complexity as a driver of communication and cognition.