Scott Edwards
NOMIS Senior Fellow 2026–2027

Scott Edwards is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Curator of Ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (US). He graduated with a BA from Harvard College (US) in 1986, received his PhD in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley (US) in 1992, and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of Florida, Gainesville (US), from 1992–1994. He was a faculty member at the University of Washington, Seattle (US), from 1995–2003, and then returned to Harvard University (US) in 2003.

Scott is an evolutionary biologist with diverse interests in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, comparative genomics, and population genetics. His research uses birds as model systems. His current work focuses on using phylogenetic trees and statistical models to link genomic and phenotypic variation. He is also using advanced sequencing and computational methods to understand a poorly known class of mutations in the genome called structural variants.

Scott served as president of several scientific societies, and on National Geographic's Committee for Research and Exploration and the advisory board of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian (US). From 2013–2015, he served as division director of the Division of Biological Infrastructure at the US National Science Foundation. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2015 and is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009) and the American Philosophical Society (2020).