Michael H. Dickinson (born 1963) is an American fly bioengineer and

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

, and Zarem Professor of Biology and Bioengineering at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He studies ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

'' flight control systems and sensory processing and was dubbed the Fly Guy by The Scientist.

Early life and education

Dickinson was born in Seaford, Delaware in 1963 but grew up in Baltimore before moving to Philadelphia. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

with a B.S. in 1984, and from

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

with a Ph.D. in 1989. He did his postdoctoral work with Karl Georg Götz at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

Career and Research

He was an assistant professor at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1991, before moving to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1996. He was at

from 2002 to 2011 before moving to the

for 2010 to 2014. He is now back at Caltech. He is a Monitoring Editor at

the Journal of Experimental Biology ''Journal of Experimental Biology'' (formerly ''The British Journal of Experimental Biology)'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of comparative physiology and integrative biology. It is published by The Company of Biologists. The ...

. He was a course director of the Neural Systems and Behavior course at the

Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...

Awards

* 1990

Larry Sandler Memorial Award The Larry Sandler Memorial Award is a prestigious international award given for research in the ''Drosophila'' community. The award is given for the best dissertation of the preceding year, and is given at the annual Drosophila Research Confere ...

* 2001

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

* 2008

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Sources

"Micro Warfare"
''Popular Mechanics'', Feb 2001
"Flyorama"
''Popular Science'', Dec 2002

References

External links

"Focusing on Fruit Flies, Curiosity Takes Flight"
''New York Times''
"Flies In Danger Escape With Safety Dance"
''NPR'', Joe Palca
"Fly Flight Simulators"
''ScienCentral''
"Michael H. Dickson"
''Scientific Commons''
"How a fly flies"
(TED conference) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Michael 1963 births American bioengineers Brown University alumni University of Washington alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty California Institute of Technology faculty Living people MacArthur Fellows