biologist professor biology professor
Kenneth Alex Nagy was born on July 1, 1943, in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in Southern California. He is the son of Alex J. Nagy and Phyllis F. Nagy. He graduated from Venice High School in 1960 before beginning his university studies at the University of California, Riverside.
Nagy graduated from Venice High School in California in 1960. He attended the University of California, Riverside, where he earned an A.B. in Zoology in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Biology in 1971. His doctoral dissertation examined seasonal metabolism of water, energy, and electrolytes in a field population of the desert lizard Sauromalus obesus, under the supervision of Vaughan H. Shoemaker. His graduate work established the physiological-ecological direction that shaped his later research on free-ranging vertebrates.
Nagy began his academic and research career at the University of California, Riverside, serving as a teaching assistant in biology from 1967 to 1969, a research assistant in zoology from 1969 to 1970, and an associate in biology in 1969–1970. He joined the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1971 and held a sequence of teaching, research, and faculty appointments, including acting assistant professor, adjunct assistant professor, assistant professor in residence, associate professor in residence, associate research zoologist, professor of biology in residence, and professor of biology. He became a full professor in 1984 and remained associated with UCLA after his 2006 retirement as a research professor and professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. At UCLA, Nagy taught animal physiology, environmental physiology, herpetology, physiological ecology of desert animals, field biology, and graduate seminars in environmental physiology and physiological ecology. His research focused on the ecological physiology of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly desert reptiles. He developed and applied doubly labeled water methods to measure field metabolic rate, water flux, and feeding rate in free-living animals, and used these methods in studies of reptiles, birds, and mammals in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Antarctica, and North America. His comparative work produced predictive equations for estimating food, water, and energy requirements in animals that had not been studied directly in the field. Following his retirement from regular faculty service, Nagy concentrated increasingly on conservation biology, especially the ecology, physiology, and recovery of Mojave desert tortoises. He conducted head-starting research at military installations in the Mojave Desert, developing predator-resistant enclosures and studying the survival, growth, body condition, and release of juvenile tortoises. His work has also included desert tortoise physiology, reproductive biology, health, water balance, habitat ecology, and conservation management.
Developed and applied doubly labeled water methods for measuring field metabolic rate, water flux, and feeding rate in free-ranging vertebrates.
Developed predictive equations for estimating food, water, and energy requirements of terrestrial vertebrates that had not been studied directly in the field.
Advanced desert tortoise conservation through head-starting research, predator-resistant enclosures, and studies of juvenile survival, growth, body condition, and release in the Mojave Desert.
(Co-authored study of artificial rainfall, survival, body ...)
2015Head-started Agassiz’s Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) Achieved High Survival, Growth, and Body Condition in Natural Field Enclosures
(Co-authored research evaluating long-term head-starting o...)
2020Dining Intertidally: Diet, Energetics, and Osmotic Relations of Two Shoreline-Foraging Tropidurid Lizard Species
(Co-authored study with Carlos Guerra-Correa and Vaughan H...)
2021(Analysis of field metabolic rates in 229 species of free-...)
2005(Review co-authored with Isabelle A. Girard and Thomas K. ...)
1999CO2 Production in Animals: Analysis of Potential Errors in the Doubly Labeled Water Method
(Study examining methodological sources of error in the us...)
1980(Developed predictive equations for daily dry-matter and f...)
2001Energy and Nitrogen Budgets of the Free-Living Desert Lizard Sauromalus obesus
(Research article co-authored with Vaughan H. Shoemaker on...)
1975Quotations: "Getting an ah-ha" was Nagy's expression for the moment when a student understands a difficult idea.
Nagy has been associated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Physiological Society, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, the American Society of Mammalogists, the Chelonian Research Foundation, the Ecological Society of America, the International Association for Ecology, the International Iguana Society, the Société d'Écophysiologie, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. He has also participated in Boy Scouts of America activities as a merit badge counselor, supporting environmental science, mammalogy, and bugling programs.
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Life member.
Ecological Society of America
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Physiological Society
American Society of Mammalogists
Chelonian Research Foundation
International Association for Ecology
International Iguana Society
Société d'Écophysiologie
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Merit badge counselor for environmental science, mammalogy, and bugling.
Boy Scouts of America
1982
Nagy has been described in connection with his teaching as an engaging and memorable instructor who encouraged students to think independently and develop critical judgment. He has characterized public lectures, interviews, and educational media work as opportunities to teach, reflecting a sustained commitment to science education and public engagement.
Quotes from others about the person
A UCLA student evaluation described Nagy's teaching as challenging students to think independently rather than accept everything they were told, and as planting the seeds of critical thinking.
Nagy married Patricia Vaughan on August 12, 1967. They have two children, Mark S. Nagy and Erik M. Nagy. His professional collaborations have included long-term research with students, postdoctoral researchers, conservation organizations, military installations, and government agencies working on desert tortoise recovery and vertebrate physiological ecology.
