UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — David Toews, assistant professor of biology, has been named the Louis Martarano Career Development Professor of Biology at Penn State. This professorship is supported by a gift from Penn State Eberly College of Science alumnus Louis Martarano, director of the University’s integrated bachelor of science and master of business administration program.
 
The Louis Martarano Career Development Professorship was created to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting their academic careers in the Eberly College of Science. In addition to providing recognition of the recipient's current achievements, the professorship demonstrates belief in the recipient's potential to achieve eminence in his or her field.
 
In his research, Toews uses techniques from evolutionary biology, genomics, molecular ecology, biogeography and animal behavior to understand how new species of birds come about. He studies New World warblers, wrens and other birds to identify genes that may underlie important ecological traits, such as migration behavior and plumage, and to study the genetics and consequences of hybridization between bird species.
 
Toews has published more than 50 papers in scientific journals including Current Biology, the Journal of Avian Biology and Nature Communications. He received the Faculty Early Career Development award from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2024 and the Ned K. Johnson Early Investigation Award from the American Ornithological Society in 2019. In 2016, he received an award for Paper of the Year from the Journal of Zoology. He is also a member of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which reviews and evaluates species status assessments.
 
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State in January 2019, Toews was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he held a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. He received his doctoral and master’s degrees in zoology from the University of British Columbia in 2014 and 2007 and his bachelor’s degree in biology from Acadia University in 2005.