James Stroud Receives Maxwell/Hanrahan Award in Field Biology

Georgia Tech’s James Stroud has been awarded a 2025 Maxwell/Hanrahan Award in Field Biology. Presented by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, the award recognizes outstanding scientists conducting field research that both explores the natural world and leverages collaboration. 

An assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Stroud is one of just five scientists selected to receive this year’s honor, which includes $100,000 of funding to support his work.

“I’m honored to receive this award,” he says. “This support affirms the value of field-based research, and underscores the importance of collaborative, long-term field studies.”

From ecology to empowerment

An evolutionary biologist, Stroud uses lizards to explore how ecological and evolutionary processes at the micro scale may underlie broader patterns of biological diversity at a larger scale — research that involves both computational analysis and long-term field studies.

“My lab’s research focuses on studying lizards in their natural habitats, allowing us to directly investigate how species adapt and evolve in real time,” he shares. “This helps us understand how these ecological and evolutionary processes shape life on Earth."

In South Florida, Stroud’s fieldwork focuses on ‘Lizard Island’ — a football field-sized island with a 1,000-lizard population. Operating for a decade, it is one of the world’s longest-running active evolutionary studies of its kind. This year, Stroud published research documenting evolution in action on the island when two species met for the first time, providing some of the clearest evidence to date of evolution in real-time. 

Outside of field research, Stroud recently led a Nature review paper providing the first-ever comprehensive analysis of long-term evolutionary studies, underscoring the critical need for these types of studies. 

Stroud has also developed a community science project called “Lizards on the Loose.” A collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the program engages middle school students from more than 100 schools across South Florida through the iNaturalist online platform and mobile app. Together, they have recorded thousands of lizard observations in their school grounds, local parks, and back yards.