Adam Summers

Adam P. Summers (born 1964) is an American biologist and educator, currently an associate professor in the Department of Biology and in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. He is also the associate director of the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Adam Summers was born in 1964 and raised in New York City and Canada. After getting his BS in Engineering and BA in Mathematics from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in 1986, he obtained his M.S. in Biology from New York University, New York, in 1992. He then did his doctorate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduating with a Ph.D. in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology (1993 – 1999).

In 1999-2001, he was a postdoctoral researcher (Miller Research Fellow) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he researched the functional morphology of tail amphibians and crawfish. While at UC Berkeley, he was approached by Pixar Studios to help them with the movie Finding Nemo. He spent three years advising on animal movements and biological aspects of the film.

After completing his higher education, Summers joined the University of California, Irvine, as an Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biomedical Engineering (2001-2007.) In 2007, he was promoted to Associate Professor. While at UC Irvine, he founded the Biomechanics Laboratory in 2001. He won the Bartholomew Prize for physiology research from the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology and the UCI Academic Senate prize for undergraduate teaching.

In 2009, he left UC Irvine to join the University of Washington, Seattle, as an Associate Professor in "Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences", Associate Professor in "School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, College of the Environment," and Professor in "Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences."

In 2011, he became a Full Professor. He also serves as Associate Director, Friday Harbor Laboratories, at the University of Washington.

In 2006 and 2008, Summers conducted research as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart, Germany. 

• Director’s award for program management excellence, National Science Foundation, 2009
• Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2009
• Visiting Assistant/Associate Professor, University of Washington, summer 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2008.
• Max Planck Institute für Metalforschung, Stuttgart Germany, Invited Visiting Scientist, 2006 and 2008.
• Faculty of 1000, Ecological Physiology Section, 2005- present
• UCI Academic Senate Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Teaching, 2005
• Sigma Xi – Associate Member, 1994, Full Member, 1999
• University Graduate Fellowship from the University of Massachusetts 1998-1999
• Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists for the best student paper at the 1998 meeting: “Reinforcement of calcified cartilage”.
• Research Fellowship, Miller Institute for Basic Research, University of California, Berkeley. 1999-2001.
• George A. Bartholomew Award in comparative physiology and biochemistry from the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology 2003
• Fat heads sink ships. (Natural History magazine biomechanics column) selected for inclusion in "Best American Nature and Science Writing – 2003" Richard Dawkins editor. Houghton Mifflin, New York.

Summers is on the editorial board of The Journal of Morphology, is an editor for Zoology journal, and also writes a monthly column for Natural History Magazine.

With students and collaborators Summers has published numerous articles in scientific journals on subjects including the heads of hammerhead sharks, the properties of skeletons, and difficulties of eating hard prey.