Nicholas Pyenson

Pyenson received a Bachelor's Degree from Emory University. In 2002, Pyenson moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology in 2008, advised by Anthony Barnosky and David R. Lindberg. During this time, he was also working in the University of California Museum of Paleontology.{{Cite web |date=2007-12-11 |title=Whale of a story for a Berkeley grad student and colleagues |url=https://grad.berkeley.edu/news/profiles/nicholas-pyenson/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Berkeley Graduate Division |language=en-US}} Pyenson's interest in whales led him to his dissertation topic, "Understanding the paleoecology and evolution of cetaceans in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean during the Neogene."{{cite thesis |first1=Nicholas David |last1=Pyenson |date=2008 |title=Understanding the paleoecology and evolution of cetaceans in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean during the neogene |oclc=908346332 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/ace4f6787e826b2d29ea6815bb279ebb/1 }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Following his PhD, Pyenson completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia.{{Cite web |title=People {{!}} Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History |url=http://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/paleobiology/research/pyenson-lab/people |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=naturalhistory.si.edu |language=en}}

Pyenson's research centers focuses on evolutionary patterns in marine animals through time, with a particular focus on patterns of convergent evolution in whales, but has also studied sea-cows, sea turtles, pinnipeds, sharks, and other marine animals. Pyenson has published over 70 scientific publications, including cover articles in the journals Science and Nature, studying questions about the evolution of body size in papers like "Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants" (2019) and "Early and fast rise of Mesozoic ocean giants" (2021).{{cite journal |last1=Delsett |first1=Lene Liebe |last2=Pyenson |first2=Nicholas D. |title=Early and fast rise of Mesozoic ocean giants |journal=Science |date=24 December 2021 |volume=374 |issue=6575 |pages=1554–1555 |doi=10.1126/science.abm3751 |pmid=34941421 |bibcode=2021Sci...374.1554D |s2cid=245456946 }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}} In 2012, Pyenson and colleagues reported the discovery of a novel sensory organ that facilitates the behavior in some rorqual baleen whales known as "lunge feeding".{{cite journal |last1=Pyenson |first1=Nicholas D. |last2=Goldbogen |first2=Jeremy A. |last3=Vogl |first3=A. Wayne |last4=Szathmary |first4=Gabor |last5=Drake |first5=Richard L. |last6=Shadwick |first6=Robert E. |title=Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales |journal=Nature |date=May 2012 |volume=485 |issue=7399 |pages=498–501 |doi=10.1038/nature11135 |pmid=22622577 |bibcode=2012Natur.485..498P |s2cid=1200222 }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Other work has developed the understanding of the odontocete melon, a structure involved in echolocation.{{cite journal |last1=McKenna |first1=Megan F. |last2=Cranford |first2=Ted W. |last3=Berta |first3=Annalisa |last4=Pyenson |first4=Nicholas D. |title=Morphology of the odontocete melon and its implications for acoustic function |journal=Marine Mammal Science |date=October 2012 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=690–713 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00526.x |bibcode=2012MMamS..28..690M }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}}

In 2017, Pyenson was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Barack Obama,{{Cite web |title=Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (Pyenson, Nicholas - 2017) |url=https://profiles.si.edu/display/n59009 |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=profiles.si.edu}} and has won numerous research awards from the Smithsonian, including the Secretary’s Research Prize. Pyenson is a member of the Young Scientists community at the World Economic Forum, a Kavli Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fulbright Specialist at the US State Department.{{Cite web |title=Nick Pyenson {{!}} Penguin Random House |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2173881/nick-pyenson |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}

Pyenson's writing on topics from whales to science and society have appeared in publications such as The New York Times,{{cite news |last1=Pyenson |first1=Nick |title=Opinion {{!}} Wrap Your Mind Around a Whale |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/opinion/sunday/wrap-your-mind-around-a-whale.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 June 2018 }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}} Scientific American,{{Cite web |last=Dehgan |first=Nick Pyenson, Alex |title=More Scientists Should Join the Diplomatic Corps |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-need-more-scientists-in-the-u-s-diplomatic-corps/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Scientific American |date=March 2021 |language=en}} Smithsonian (magazine),{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |title=How Long Have Sea Cows Thrived in the Arabian Gulf? We Literally Stumbled on a Clue |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/earth-optimism/2021/12/07/sea-cows-arabian-gulf/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=www.smithsonianmag.com |language=en}} and The Washington Post.{{cite news |last1=Pyenson |first1=Nick |title=We learned a lot about whales this year |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/28/we-learned-lot-about-whales-this-year/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=29 December 2019 }}{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}} His work has been the subject of articles in publications including National Geographic,{{Cite web |date=2014-02-25 |title=The Tiny Culprit Behind A Graveyard of Ancient Whales |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-tiny-culprit-behind-a-graveyard-of-ancient-whales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303095621/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-tiny-culprit-behind-a-graveyard-of-ancient-whales |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Science |language=en}} The New York Times,{{cite news |last1=Imbler |first1=Sabrina |title=This Sea Lizard Had a Grand Piano-Size Head and a Big Appetite |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/science/ichthyosaurs-whale-dinosaur-evolution.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 December 2021 }} The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, NPR{{Cite news |last=Sofia |first=Madeline K. |date=2017-06-07 |title=Travel Through Time With A Whale Detective |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/07/531112519/travel-through-time-with-a-whale-detective |access-date=2022-06-28}} and more.

His book, Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures (Viking Press, 2018) was called “the best of science writing” by noted biologist E. O. Wilson, was positively reviewed by NPR{{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Dave |title=Scientists Are 'Spying On Whales' To Learn How They Eat, Talk And ... Walked? |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/01/634456181/scientists-are-spying-on-whales-to-learn-how-they-eat-talk-and-walked |work=Fresh Air |publisher=NPR |date=1 August 2018 }} and The New York Times,{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Duncan |title=No Fins or Mask Needed: Four New Books Take Underwater Journeys |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/books/review/orca-jason-m-colby.html |work=The New York Times |date=5 October 2018 }} and was a finalist in 2019 for the Best Young Adult Science Book from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.{{Cite web |title=Spying on Whales |url=https://www.sbfprize.org/spying-on-whales |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books |language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyenson, Nicholas}}

Category:American science writers

Category:Cetologists

Category:American expatriates in Canada

Category:1980 births

Category:Living people

Category:American paleontologists

Category:University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Smithsonian Institution people

Category:American mammalogists

Category:American marine biologists

Category:Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers