Mikhail Tikhonov, an associate professor of physics, has been named a Harvard Radcliffe fellow for the 2026-27 academic year. He will spend a year at Harvard University working on a new high-dimensional modeling framework to explore how evolutionary dynamics can stabilize or destabilize complex ecosystems, with a particular focus on the mechanisms behind mass extinctions.

The fellowship was created to give “leading scientists, writers, scholars, public intellectuals, and artists in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and creative arts” space and time to focus on a single big-picture topic or project.

At WashU, Tikhonov has used physics modeling to search for emergent simplicity and predictability in microbial communities, including bacteria in soil and the human gut. Bacterial ecosystems are incredibly diverse and complicated, but Tikhonov and his team have found surprising levels of order in the seeming chaos. In 2024, he won a coveted NSF CAREER award for early-career faculty.

During the fellowship, Tikhonov plans to expand his physics-inspired approach to ecology and evolution, applying it to broader questions about how ecosystems organize over long periods of time. “Harvard's unmatched historical collections and deep paleontological expertise make it an unparalleled place to undertake this work," he said.

“I’m inspired by the wisdom, creativity, and passion of our incoming fellows,” Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, said in a statement. “At a time when higher education has been under heightened scrutiny, our new fellowship class offers hope and purpose — a reminder of the vital importance of scholarly exploration and advanced study.”

"Receiving the Radcliffe fellowship is a tremendous honor,” Tikhonov said. “I look forward to spending more time with my wonderful collaborators, but I am equally excited to learn from fellows whose work is far removed from my own.”

Tikhonov will return to WashU for the fall semester of 2027.