Univ.-Prof. William Tecumseh Sherman Fitch, Ph.D
Professur für Evolutionary Cognitive Biology an der Fakultät für Lebenswissenschaften
Curriculum vitae:
born 1963, Boston, Massachusetts, US
1981-1986 B.A. with honors, Biology, Brown University
1986 James F. Kidwell Prize in Population Biology, Brown University
1986-1988 Research Assistant (Coral reef fish ethology) with Dr. D. Y. Shapiro: H. Steinitz Marine Lab, Eilat, Israel & Dept. Marine Science, University of Puerto Rico
1988 Medical Translator (German to English): Innsbruck
1989-1994 Ph.D., Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, PhD Thesis: "vocal tract length and the evolution of human language"
1989-1994 Graduate Teaching Assistant & Lecturer, Brown University
1988-2001 Computer Programmer/Consultant: Boston, Providence, New York and Innsbruck
1990 National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Training Award
1990 Selected participant, McDonnell Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Dartmouth
1990 National Science Foundation Research Fellow (three years)
1993 Research Grant from Apple Computer "Sonification of Physiological Sounds"
1995 Visiting Fellow, BC Advanced Systems Institute. Victoria, British Columbia
1996-1999 Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard/MIT Speech & Hearing Science Program
1998-99 German-American Exchange Fellowship: "Evolution of Intelligence"
1999-2002 Lecturer, Harvard University: Organismic & Evol. Biology & Dept. of Psychology
2002-2003 Invited Fellow, European Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin
2003 Recipient, John G. Pisano award, National Institutes of Health
2005-2006 Leibniz Professorship: Visiting Professorship, University of Leipzig
2003-2009 Permanent Position: Reader, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews
2009 ERC Advanced Grant Awardee (European Research Council)
2009-2011 Professor (2-year-contract), Department of Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna
since June 2011 Professor of Evolutionary Cognitive Biology, Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna
Research Areas:
* The evolution and neural basis of cognition and communication
* Biolinguistics
* Bioacoustics: physiology and perception of vertebrate vocalization (including human speech)
* The evolution of animal communication systems, including speech, language and music
* Biomusicology
* Theoretical biology
* Sonification (Auditory display of data)
* Biology and Aesthetics