David Lohman, CCNY's renowned biodiversity scientist, is now a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow and three-time Fulbright Fellowship winner.
Harvard Radcliffe Institute announces the selection of David J. Lohman, chair of the Department of Biology at The City College of New York, as a fellow for the 2026–2027 academic year.
A yearlong Radcliffe fellowship provides the rare opportunity to pursue ambitious projects in the unique environment of the Institute within the larger community of Harvard University. Each fellowship class is drawn from some of the most thoughtful and exciting contemporary scholars in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts—along with writers, journalists, playwrights, and other distinguished professionals.
Lohman is a biodiversity scientist interested in the ecology, evolution, biogeography, and conservation of butterflies, primarily in Southeast Asia. At Radcliffe, he will collaborate with Harvard scientists and use the entomology collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology to investigate how perceptual limitations of butterfly predators impact the evolution of mimetic fidelity. Lohman is a National Geographic Explorer, which is the designation for the Society’s most prestigious community of groundbreaking scientists, conservationists, and storytellers.
Following his fellowship in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lohman will travel to Thailand as a Fulbright Research/Teaching Scholar. This will be his third Fulbright Fellowship to conduct fieldwork in the Asia-Pacific region. He uses a combination of field ecology and molecular phylogenetic methods to investigate how interactions between insects and other organisms affect evolution and community structure. His pioneering research has earned him numerous honors. Prior to his Radcliffe fellowship, he was named a Lifetime Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“I’m inspired by the wisdom, creativity, and passion of our incoming fellows,” says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “At a time when higher education has been under heightened scrutiny, our new fellowship class offers hope and purpose—a reminder of the vital importance of scholarly exploration and advanced study. Their work signals a promising future.”
This year’s Radcliffe fellows will be part of a unique interdisciplinary and creative community that will step away from routines to tackle projects that they have long wished to move forward. Throughout the academic year, fellows convene regularly to share their work in progress with the community and public. With access to Harvard’s unparalleled resources, Radcliffe fellows develop new tools and methods, challenge artistic and scholarly conventions, and illuminate the past, present, and future. Radcliffe Fellowship alumni are quick to say it was the best year of their career.
Click here for the full list of 2026–2027 fellows.
About Harvard Radcliffe Institute
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration. We bring students, scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue curiosity-driven research, expand human understanding, and grapple with questions that demand insight from across disciplines. For more information, visit www.radcliffe.harvard.edu.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 2.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.7 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers, and society. At City College, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College's mission. By May 2026, more than $500 million had been raised. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
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jmwamba@ccny.cuny.edu