Duncan J. Irschick

B.S., University of California, Davis, 1991

Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis, 1996

Postdoctoral: 

2000-2001 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California at Berkeley

1997-2000 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Cincinnati

Research Interests: 

Functional Morphology, Evolution, and Behavioral Ecology

Duncan J. Irschick is an integrative biologist and innovator interested in the evolution and ecology of animal athletics, and how biological form informs synthetic design. Some of his research interests include gecko adhesion, 3D-imaging, animal movement, and bioinspiration. He is a co-inventor of two technologies – GeckskinTM, a bioinspired superadhesive, and BeastcamTM, a portable multi-camera technology that can create high-resolution 3D models of living creatures. He is also the co-founder and director of Digital Life (www.digitallife3d.com(link is external)), a non-profit imitative to create and distribute high-resolution 3D models of life on earth, and the Center for Evolutionary Materials at UMASS Amherst.

Duncan has published 175 papers on animal function and evolution, and has been a co-inventor on several patents. He has received funding from NIH, NSF, and private foundations, and media attention from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNET.org, and CNN.

Irschick has been invited to over 100 talks for Universities and organizations all over the world. He has been a Keynote and plenary speaker for many different organizations and Universities. In 2014 and 2016, he was honored with the Outstanding Research Award, the Chancellor's Medal, and the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Award from the University of Massachusetts. To see his publications, go to https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AIINUSQAAAAJ&hl=en(link is external)

Representative Publications: 

Irschick DJ, Higham T.  2016.  Animal Athletes: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach.  Oxford University Press, Oxford UK.  272 pages.  ISBN: 9780199296552

Irschick DJ, Lauder G, Wilga C, Fu A, Kuo C, Hammerschlag N.  2017.  A comparative morphological analysis of body and fin shape for eight shark species.  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.  122:589-604.

Hammerschlag N, Lafferty K, Sih A, Atwood T, Cooke S, Flecker A, Gallagher A, Irschick DJ, Skubel R, Schmitz O.  2019.  Ecosystem services of aquatic predators in a changing world.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 34:369-383.

Baeckens S, Wainwright D, Weaver J, Irschick DJ, Losos JBL.  2019.  Ontogenetic scaling patterns of the lizard skin surface structure revealed by gel-based profilometry.  Journal of Anatomy.  235 :346-356.

 Moyer J, Shannon S, Irschick DJ.  2019.  Bite performance and feeding behaviour of the sand tiger shark Carcharias taurus.  Journal of Fish Biology.  95:881-892.

Bergmann P, Morinaga^, G, Freitas ES, Irschick DJ, Wagner G, Siler CDS. 2020.  Locomotor facilitation and paleoclimate explain limb re-evolution in Brachymeles lizardsProceedings of the Royal Society of London B (Featured in the New York Times).  https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1994.

Irschick DJ, Martin J, Siebert U, Kristensen J, Madsen PT^, Christiansen F.  2020.  Creation of Accurate 3D models of Harbor Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) using 3D photogrammetry.  Marine Mammal Science.  37:482-491

Irschick DJ, Christiansen F, Hammerschlag N, Martin J, Madsen P, Wyneken J, Brooks A, Gleiss A, Fossette S, Siler C, Gamble T, Fish F, Siebert U, Patel J, Xu Z Kaleogerkis E, Medina J, Mukherji A, Mandica M, Zotos S, Detweiller J, Perot B, Lauder G.  2022.  Re-imagining the Shape of Life: New 3D Visualization Processes for Recreating Organismal Form.  iScience.  25:104867.