Neurobiologist Erich Jarvis of Duke University has been awarded this year's prestigious Waterman Award for his work on discovering brain areas and genes involved in bird vocal learning. The award, from the National Science Foundation, carries with it $500,000 in research funds.
Jarvis, 35, got his doctorate from Rockefeller University--one of only 52 African-American men out of more than 4300 biologists to get Ph.D.s in 1995--working with renowned birdsong researcher Fernando Nottebohm. He recently published work showing that hummingbirds share with songbirds and parrots the special brain structures that are active in song and talk. The three bird orders are the only ones known to be capable of vocal learning. Jarvis is especially interested in comparing these brain structures with language structures in humans.
Jarvis is the 27th winner of the award, which goes to researchers 35 or under, and the first black winner. He was to be honored at a 7 May ceremony in Washington, D.C.
