Benjamin L. Smarr received the BS degree in biological sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2004, trained in microscopy and neurohistology for two years at the National Center for Microscopy Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego, and received the PhD degree in neurobiology and behavior from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow of the National Institutes of Health working with Prof. Kriegsfeld in the Psychology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on circadian rhythms as regulators of health and development in animal models and in humans.