Museum of Comparative Zoology

About the MCZ Museum of Comparative Zoology A center for research and education focused on the comparative relationships of animal life. The Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University is a center for research and education focused on the comparative relationships of animal life. MCZ collections are comprised of approximately 21-million extant and fossil invertebrate and vertebrate specimens, which continue to be a focus of research and teaching for MCZ, Harvard and outside students and researchers. Collections and Research Facilities Ten departments (Entomology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Malacology, Mammalogy, Ornithology, Vertebrate Paleontology, and Collection Operations) make up the MCZ, in addition to the Ernst Mayr Library and the Concord Field Station. Leadership The MCZ is led by current Faculty Director Professor Gonzalo Giribet, with oversight from the MCZ Faculty, the museum's governing body. Eight faculty-curators and four emeriti provide additional vision and leadership to the museum's collections. The MCZ's charter, signed in 1859, mandates that the Museum's activities will be overseen by a governing board, the Faculty of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Current board members include Dr. Elizabeth Kane, Mr. George Putnam III, Mr. Jeff Tarr, Dr. Barbara Jil Wu and Harvard University President Alan M. Garber. MCZ faculty-curators are Harvard faculty members within the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB), leading active research areas that include Biodiversity and Systematics, Biology of Marine Systems, Biomechanics and Physiology, Ecology, Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Mathematical and Computational Biology, Neuroethnology and Behavioral Ecology, Paleobiology, and Population and Evolutionary Genetics. The MCZ also has a productive associates roster. These affiliated researchers are hosted by individual departments and are reviewed and approved by the MCZ Faculty Board.