Sarah Kocher has been awarded a 2021 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, which brings $875,000 over five years to pursue her research.

Kocher, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, investigates the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms behind social living. Her research takes advantage of naturally occurring variation in sweat bees, where some species live alone while others build social units like their better-known cousins the honeybees.

“My work traverses different levels of biological complexity, from genes to brains to behavior, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors that shape the evolution of the ‘social brain,’” Kocher said.

 Find out more, story by Liz Fuller-Wright, Office of Communications: Biologist Sarah Kocher receives Packard Foundation fellowship for early-career scientists for her ‘social brain’ research with bees