has since held numerous titles and received several awards, including a Hilgard Visiting Professor, 1987–88; Professor of Psychology, 1990–2004, Professor of Biology, Stanford University 2004-; Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor, Stanford University, 2004-; Javits Investigator Award, NINDS 1999–2006; Bing Prize for Innovation in Undergraduate teaching, 1996–1999; Cox Medal for Fostering Undergraduate Research, 1998; Dinkelspiel Prize for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, 2000; Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, 2003–2013. He was awarded the Rank Prize in Vision/Opto-electronics, 2004; Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2011 and presented numerous named lectures including the Futterman Memorial Lecture, University of Washington, 2009; Forbes Lectures, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 2011; Marsden Lecture, McGill University, Montreal, 2013; Matarazzo Lecture, Oregon Health Sciences Institute, Portland, 2013. He has served as Executive Editor, Experimental Eye Research, 1991–2000; Editorial Board, Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 1998–2007; Advisory Board, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2008–2015; Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, 2011–present; Reviewing Editor, e-Life, 2012–present. Research In early work, Fernald asked how fish maintain excellent visual acuity despite rapid eye growth. He showed eyes grow through expansion and cell addition at the eye's margins but that rod photoreceptors arise from precursor stem cells. Fernald next asked how fish lens quality was preserved during growth, identifying specific mechanisms, sharing the Rank Prize for the discovery. Fernald also showed that retinal opsin production was regulated via a circadian rhythm, since shown to be the case in all vertebrates. Fernald also did research on eye evolution, showing that photoreceptor proteins have an ancient origin predating vision while lens proteins have arisen many times from different sources in different animal lineages. In his research on the control of reproduction, Fernald's research showed neurons containing gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) changed size in response to an animal's social status and his group were the first to find the gene encoding (GnRH) in cold-blooded vertebrates. He also found a previously unknown second GnRH gene in humans and other primates. To be effective, GnRH must be delivered in a pulsatile fashion, yet no known mechanism synchronized the firing of these neurons, but Fernald recently showed this results from their connection via gap junctions. In his research, Fernald collected definitive evidence that social behavior can change the brain, including regulation of numerous receptors, identifying a social calculus used during behavioral interactions. He identified an attention hierarchy in fish that maintains social systems and more