About Me
Dr. Fortune has been interested in evolutionary biology since childhood. He is passionate about understanding the mechanisms and evolution of animal behavior.
Education
Ph.D.; University of Chicago; Biology; 1995
B.S.; University of Chicago; 1989
Website
2026 Fall Courses
BIOL 790E - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
BIOL 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
BIOL 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RESRCH
BIOL 790C - DOCTORAL DISSERTN & RESRCH
BIOL 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
BIOL 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
BIOL 790B - DOCT DISSERTATION & RESRCH
BIOL 790D - DOCT DISSERTATION & RESRCH
BIOL 491 - SENIOR PROJECT
BIOL 492 - RESEARCH & INDEPENDENT STUDY
BIOL 792B - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
BIOL 630 - CRITICAL THINKING FOR LIFE SCI
BIOL 792C - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
Teaching Interests
Animal behavior and neuroscience
Past Courses
BIOL 150: LIVING IN A VARIABLE UNIVERSE
BIOL 200: CONCEPTS IN BIOLOGY
BIOL 337: COLLECTIVE INTEL IN BIOL SYST
BIOL 340: MAMMALIAN PHYSIOLOGY
BIOL 383: NEURAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR
BIOL 447: CELLULAR&SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
BIOL 495: HONORS SEMINAR IN BIOLOGY
BIOL 612: COMPARATIVE ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY
BIOL 630: CRITICAL THINKING FOR LIFE SCI
BIOL 630: CRITICAL THINKING FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES
Research Interests
Mechanisms of Animal Behavior
Journal Article
Horacio G. Rotstein, David Sant, Alfred Amendolara, Eric S. Fortune. 2023. "LSTM-Based Recurrent Neural Network Provides Effective Short Term Flu Forecasting." BMC Publich Health, vol. 23, pp. 1788.
Daphne Soares, Kathryn Gallman, Maria Elina Bichuette, Eric S. Fortune. 2023. "Adaptive shift of active electroreception in weakly electric fish for troglobitic life." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 11.
Melissa J. Coleman, Nancy F. Day, Eric S. Fortune. 2022. "Neural mechanisms for turn-taking in duetting plain-tailed wrens." Frontiers in Neural Circuits, vol. 16.
Ismail Uyanik, Shahin Sefati, Sarah A Stamper, Kyoung-A Cho, M Mert Ankarali, Eric S. Fortune, Noah J Cowan. 2020. "Variability in locomotor dynamics reveals the critical role of feedback in task control." eLife, vol. 9.
I Uyanik, S A Stamper, N J Cowan, Eric S. Fortune. 2019. "Sensory Cues Modulate Smooth Pursuit and Active Sensing Movements.." Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, vol. 13, pp. 59.
J E Elie, S Hoffmann, J L Dunning, M J Coleman, Eric S. Fortune, J F Prather. 2019. "From Perception to Action: The Role of Auditory Input in Shaping Vocal Communication and Social Behaviors in Birds.." Brain, behavior and evolution, vol. 94, no. 1-4, pp. 51-60.
Debojyoti Biswas, Luke A. Arend, Sarah A. Stamper, Balázs P. Vágvölgyi, Eric S. Fortune, Noah J. Cowan. 2018. "Closed-Loop Control of Active Sensing Movements Regulates Sensory Slip." Current Biology, vol. 28, no. 24, pp. 4029-4036.e4.
Melissa Coleman, Eric S. Fortune. 2018. "Quick Guide: Duet singing in plain-tailed wrens." Current Biology, vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 643-645.
M S Madhav, R P Jayakumar, A Demir, S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, N J Cowan. 2018. "High-resolution behavioral mapping of electric fishes in Amazonian habitats.." Scientific reports, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 5830.
E E Sutton, A Demir, S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, N J Cowan. 2016. "Dynamic modulation of visual and electrosensory gains for locomotor control.." Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, vol. 13, no. 118.
M L Rouse, Jr, T J Stevenson, Eric S. Fortune, G F Ball. 2015. "Reproductive state modulates testosterone-induced singing in adult female European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).." Hormones and behavior, vol. 72, pp. 78-87.
N J Cowan, M M Ankarali, J P Dyhr, M S Madhav, E Roth, S Sefati, S Sponberg, S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, T L Daniel. 2014. "Feedback control as a framework for understanding tradeoffs in biology.." Integrative and comparative biology, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 223-37.
S Sefati, I D Neveln, E Roth, T R Mitchell, J B Snyder, M A Maciver, Eric S. Fortune, N J Cowan. 2013. "Mutually opposing forces during locomotion can eliminate the tradeoff between maneuverability and stability.." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 110, no. 47, pp. 18798-803.
M S Madhav, S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, N J Cowan. 2013. "Closed-loop stabilization of the Jamming Avoidance Response reveals its locally unstable and globally nonlinear dynamics.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 216, no. Pt 22, pp. 4272-84.
S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, M J Chacron. 2013. "Perception and coding of envelopes in weakly electric fishes.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 216, no. Pt 13, pp. 2393-402.
S A Stamper, M S Madhav, N J Cowan, Eric S. Fortune. 2012. "Beyond the Jamming Avoidance Response: weakly electric fish respond to the envelope of social electrosensory signals.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 215, no. Pt 23, pp. 4196-207.
S A Stamper, E Roth, N J Cowan, Eric S. Fortune. 2012. "Active sensing via movement shapes spatiotemporal patterns of sensory feedback.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 215, no. Pt 9, pp. 1567-74.
P McGillivray, K Vonderschen, Eric S. Fortune, M J Chacron. 2012. "Parallel coding of first- and second-order stimulus attributes by midbrain electrosensory neurons.." The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 32, no. 16, pp. 5510-24.
Eric S. Fortune, Carlos Rodríguez, David Li, Gregory F. Ball, Melissa J. Coleman. 2011. "Neural Mechanisms for the Coordination of Duet Singing in Wrens." Science, vol. 334, no. 6056, pp. 666-670.
Navid Khosravi-Hashemi, Eric S. Fortune, Maurice J. Chacron. 2011. "Coding movement direction by burst firing in electrosensory neurons." Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 1954-1968.
E Roth, K Zhuang, S A Stamper, Eric S. Fortune, N J Cowan. 2011. "Stimulus predictability mediates a switch in locomotor smooth pursuit performance for Eigenmannia virescens.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 214, no. Pt 7, pp. 1170-80.
M J Chacron, Eric S. Fortune. 2010. "Subthreshold membrane conductances enhance directional selectivity in vertebrate sensory neurons.." Journal of neurophysiology, vol. 104, no. 1, pp. 449-62.
S A Stamper, E Carrera-G, E W Tan, V Fugère, R Krahe, Eric S. Fortune. 2010. "Species differences in group size and electrosensory interference in weakly electric fishes: implications for electrosensory processing.." Behavioural brain research, vol. 207, no. 2, pp. 368-76.
M J Chacron, N Toporikova, Eric S. Fortune. 2009. "Differences in the time course of short-term depression across receptive fields are correlated with directional selectivity in electrosensory neurons.." Journal of neurophysiology, vol. 102, no. 6, pp. 3270-9.
Eric S. Fortune, M J Chacron. 2009. "From molecules to behavior: organismal-level regulation of ion channel trafficking.." PLoS biology, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. e1000211.
E M Hitschfeld, S A Stamper, K Vonderschen, Eric S. Fortune, M J Chacron. 2009. "Effects of restraint and immobilization on electrosensory behaviors of weakly electric fish.." ILAR journal, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 361-72.
S Carver, E Roth, N J Cowan, Eric S. Fortune. 2008. "Synaptic plasticity can produce and enhance direction selectivity.." PLoS computational biology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. e32.
Noah J. Cowan, Eric S. Fortune. 2007. "The Critical Role of Locomotion Mechanics in Decoding Sensory Systems." The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 1123-1128.
J U Ramcharitar, E W Tan, Eric S. Fortune. 2006. "Global electrosensory oscillations enhance directional responses of midbrain neurons in eigenmannia.." Journal of neurophysiology, vol. 96, no. 5, pp. 2319-26.
Eric S. Fortune. 2006. "The decoding of electrosensory systems.." Current opinion in neurobiology, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 474-80.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose, M Kawasaki. 2006. "Encoding and processing biologically relevant temporal information in electrosensory systems.." Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, vol. 192, no. 6, pp. 625-35.
E W Tan, J M Nizar, E Carrera-G, Eric S. Fortune. 2005. "Electrosensory interference in naturally occurring aggregates of a species of weakly electric fish, Eigenmannia virescens.." Behavioural brain research, vol. 164, no. 1, pp. 83-92.
J U Ramcharitar, E W Tan, Eric S. Fortune. 2005. "Effects of global electrosensory signals on motion processing in the midbrain of Eigenmannia.." Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, vol. 191, no. 9, pp. 865-72.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 2003. "Voltage-gated Na+ channels enhance the temporal filtering properties of electrosensory neurons in the torus.." Journal of neurophysiology, vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 924-9.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 2002. "Roles for short-term synaptic plasticity in behavior.." Journal of physiology, Paris, vol. 96, no. 5-6, pp. 539-45.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 2001. "Short-term synaptic plasticity as a temporal filter.." Trends in neurosciences, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 381-5.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 2000. "Short-term synaptic plasticity contributes to the temporal filtering of electrosensory information.." The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 20, no. 18, pp. 7122-30.
G J Rose, Eric S. Fortune. 1999. "Frequency-dependent PSP depression contributes to low-pass temporal filtering in Eigenmannia.." The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 19, no. 17, pp. 7629-39.
G J Rose, Eric S. Fortune. 1999. "Mechanisms for generating temporal filters in the electrosensory system.." The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 202, no. Pt 10, pp. 1281-9.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 1997. "Passive and active membrane properties contribute to the temporal filtering properties of midbrain neurons in vivo.." The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 3815-25.
Eric S. Fortune, G J Rose. 1997. "Temporal filtering properties of ampullary electrosensory neurons in the torus semicircularis of Eigenmannia: evolutionary and computational implications.." Brain, behavior and evolution, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 312-23.
G J Rose, Eric S. Fortune. 1996. "New techniques for making whole-cell recordings from CNS neurons in vivo.." Neuroscience research, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 89-94.
Eric S. Fortune, D Margoliash. 1995. "Parallel pathways and convergence onto HVc and adjacent neostriatum of adult zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).." The Journal of comparative neurology, vol. 360, no. 3, pp. 413-41.
D Margoliash, Eric S. Fortune, M L Sutter, A C Yu, B D Wren-Hardin, A Dave. 1994. "Distributed representation in the song system of oscines: evolutionary implications and functional consequences.." Brain, behavior and evolution, vol. 44, no. 4-5, pp. 247-64.
Eric S. Fortune, D Margoliash. 1992. "Cytoarchitectonic organization and morphology of cells of the field L complex in male zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata).." The Journal of comparative neurology, vol. 325, no. 3, pp. 388-404.
D Margoliash, Eric S. Fortune. 1992. "Temporal and harmonic combination-sensitive neurons in the zebra finch's HVc.." The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 11, pp. 4309-26.
Other
"Electric fishes: neural systems, behaviour and evolution."
The Journal of experimental biology, July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2013.
The Journal of experimental biology, July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2013.