Matthew Fuxjager

Matthew Fuxjager is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Brown University. He serves as the Graduate Program Director for the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program. His research explores the physiological and evolutionary foundations of animal behavior, focusing on courtship and resource defense mechanisms in tropical birds and frogs.

• Education:
• PhD (2011) - University of Wisconsin at Madison
• MS (2007) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• BA (2004) - Pomona College

Research interests span neurobiology, muscle physiology, and endocrinology, with fieldwork in Austria, Costa Rica, India, Panama, and Peru. His work combines behavioral ecology and molecular genetics to investigate how physiological systems evolve to produce complex displays. Recent studies highlight the role of androgens in muscle specialization and signal evolution.

Scientific awards include multiple National Science Foundation grants (MCA, IRES, REU, MRI, IOS), supporting research on neural control of displays, frog evolution, and microXROMM technology development. Collaborators include Elizabeth Brainerd, James Kellner, Sohini Ramachandran, and Thomas Roberts.

Teaching includes courses on evolutionary behavioral ecology, hormones and behavior, and advanced topics in ecology and evolution. Students and postdocs in his lab engage in integrative research spanning fieldwork in the Amazon to bench science.