About the Author

Jay Phelan teaches biology at UCLA, where he has taught introductory biology to more than 11,000 majors and non-majors students over the past seventeen years. He is the recipient of more than a dozen teaching awards, including UCLA’s highest teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award, in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard in 1995, a master’s degree in environmental studies from Yale, and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA. His primary area of research is evolutionary genetics, and his original research has been published in Evolution, Experimental Gerontology, and the Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology, among other journals. His research has been featured on Nightline, CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio; in Science Times and Elle; and in more than a hundred newspapers.

Jay lectures frequently on a variety of topics in education, including the nurturing of critical thinking skills in undergraduate students and the use and efficacy of online adaptive assessment systems. His research in these areas has been published in the International Encyclopedia of Education and numerous journals.

With economist Terry Burnham, Jay is co-author of the international bestseller Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food—Taming Our Primal Instincts. Written for the general reader, Mean Genes explains in simple terms how knowledge of the genetic basis of human nature can empower individuals to lead more satisfying lives.