The program will support interdisciplinary faculty and graduate student research and create one of the world's premiere graduate fellowship programs in this newly emerging scientific field. The Keck Foundation is a Los Angeles-based charitable organization that has supported programs and facilities in science, engineering, natural resources, medicine and higher education since 1954.
Behavioral biology is the integrated study of the fundamental principles of animal behavior.
It promises to have profound impact on biomedical and agricultural research in the next century, providing new insights that range from improvements in agricultural and urban pest control to a better understanding of complex human behaviors such as drug addiction, aggression and antisocial behavior. Inspired by common research and teaching interests, the five researchers have been collaborating informally for years in the laboratory, as organizers of scientific seminars on campus, and as participants in monthly scholarly discussions held at their homes. As the core faculty group, we hope to serve as a magnet to recruit outstanding new faculty and students to NC State and the program. NC State's strengths in molecular and cellular biology, quantitative genetics, behavioral ecology and adaptive evolution, and insect physiology and behavior will prove critical to the success of the new program, Anholt says. At NC State we can capitalize on recent advances made in molecular biology, quantitative genetics and neuroscience that have generated the conceptual framework and technology needed to address complex problems of behavior in the 21st century.