Blake Jones
Blake Jones studies the underlying mechanisms of development, sociality, learning and memory in free-living animals. His research integrates theories and techniques from climate-science, ecology, physiology, genetics, and cognitive neuroscience.
Biography
Jones aims to uncover the genetic and physiological underpinnings of complex sociality, cognition, and development in free-living animals. He uses integrative and comparative approaches in the lab and the field to address questions at the forefront of organismal biology. His work is highly collaborative, involving researchers and undergraduates from throughout the US as well as Brazil and Australia. Jones' work has been funded by multiple National Science Foundation awards, The Nature Conservancy, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the American Ornithological Society. He routinely publishes in peer-reviewed, international scientific journals, including Animal Behaviour, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, General and Comparative Endocrinology, Hormones and Behavior, and Oecologia. Jones' teaching style focuses on critical thinking and first-hand experience in the lab and the field. He draws on his diverse experience in research, conservation, field biology, veterinary medicine, art, music, and photography to make biology easily accessible. B.S., James Madison University; Ph.D., University of Memphis; Visiting Research Scholar, Curtin University (Perth, Australia); Postdoctoral Scholar, Florida State University. Jones joined the Bennington faculty in Fall 2020.