William (Ned) Friedman

Director, Arnold Arboretum

Professor Ned Friedman is the Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and an Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. His research program focuses on the organismic interfaces between developmental, phylogenetic and evolutionary biology. Remarkable recent advances in the study of the phylogenetic relationships of organisms have provided the raw materials for critical studies of character evolution in plants, animals, fungi, and all other forms of life. Armed with hypotheses of relationships among organisms, he seeks to explore how patterns of morphology, anatomy and cell biology have evolved through the modification of developmental processes.