Neuroscientist Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz has received a New Innovator Director’s Award from the National Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The Director’s Awards “support highly innovative scientists who propose visionary and broadly impactful behavioral and biomedical research projects,” said the NIH announcement.

“The HRHR program is a pillar for innovation here at NIH, providing support to transformational research…expected to have exceptionally high and broadly applicable impact,” said Robert W. Eisinger, Ph.D., Acting Director of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, which oversees the NIH Common Fund.

Fernandez-Ruiz is assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior and Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. His project, “How do animals learn the structure of their natural environment?” (grant # 1DP2MH136496-01) seeks to elucidate the neural circuit mechanisms of structure learning using rat foraging behavior as a model. 

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.