Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Southern California received a $396,865 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) effective August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2029. This collaborative research initiative investigates the evolution and mechanical mechanisms of schooling behavior in neotropical tetras through an integrated approach combining biomechanics, computational modeling, and comparative evolutionary methods. The research will identify macroevolutionary trends in schooling performance across diverse tetra species exhibiting varying degrees of social coordination, from weakly aggregating to highly synchronized behaviors. Deliverables include peer-reviewed research findings on how complex social systems originate and persist in nature, with potential applications to autonomous vehicle coordination and drone swarm algorithms.

The award supports workforce development through training of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and undergraduate students at both the University of California, Irvine and University of Southern California. Educational products include new teaching modules integrating biomechanics, evolution, and collective behavior into biology and engineering curricula, as well as a workshop on phylogenetic comparative methods for physiology research. The research outputs will advance fundamental understanding of fish schooling behavior while contributing methodologies and insights applicable to interdisciplinary fields including engineering and autonomous systems development.