The Comparative Physiology and Behavior Focus Group is composed of faculty and graduate students broadly interested in organismal form and function. Research interests within the focus group span a wide range of physiological and structural problems, but emphasize the mechanistic basis of behavior and physiological ecology.
Research projects involve animals ranging from insects and molluscs to all vertebrate groups.
The mission of the Comparative Physiology and Behavior program is to provide graduate students with a solid foundation in the variety of disciplines required to undertake successful teaching and research in modern organismal structure and function, and to prepare them for further study elsewhere. All graduate students in the CPB group are required to take the Foundations of Physiology course. This course provides an in-depth introduction to the laboratory techniques of the faculty members of the focus group. Several weeks are spent in each lab learning and applying these techniques to experimental problems, which culminate in an independent project presented to the class by each student. Recent seminars have focused on Animal Locomotion and Neuroethology.