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Steven Viscido

Position: Associate Professor Department: Biological Sciences

Contact Info

Office: W.B. Atkinson Science Building 403 Phone: 336-750-2216

Biography

Dr. Viscido began his scientific career as an undergraduate biology major at Rutgers University. There, he received a thorough grounding in the broad discipline of biology, and fell in love with marine ecology as a primary field of interest. After graduating from one campus of Rutgers (Newark), he was accepted into the Master's program of another campus (Camden).

In Camden, Dr. Viscido studied population biology in marine crustaceans (shrimp and crabs) off the coast of New Jersey under the guidance of invertebrate zoologist Don Stearns, and he completed his M.S. degree in 1994. He then was accepted into the PhD program at the University of South Carolina, again planning to study marine ecology.

However, during his early PhD work, Dr. Viscido noticed the interesting social behavior of fiddler crabs, and eventually focused his studies on their group-defense behavior against predatory birds. This led Dr. Viscido down the path of studying animal social behavior, which has become the focus of his research. He subsequently studied fish schooling behavior with Dr. Julia Parrish at the University of Washington, before being hired by WSSU as a professor of Organismal Biology.

Currently, Dr. Viscido has continued to study animal social behavior. He has moved his research from field work into the lab, where he uses an array of performance computers to modify the social behavior of animals. His research papers on animal social behavior have appeared in many top journals, including the Journal of Theoretical Biology, Ecological Modelling, and Animal Behavior.

To view Dr. Viscido's current research, check his profile on Research Gate.

Educational Background

  • PhD, 2000, University of South Carolina
  • MS, 1994, Rutgers University
  • BA, 1991, Rutgers University

Research and Project Interests

  • Animal Behavior
  • Behavioral Ecology