Rosemary Strasser
Education
1988-1992 Hiram College Hiram, OH, B.A.
Double majors in Psychobiology and Psychology, minor in Environmental Studies. President Garfield scholar and Howard Hughes Grant for undergraduate research.
1992-1998 Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OHM.A., Ph.D.
Psychology Department, J. P. Scott Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior Research. Emphasis in Behavioral Neuroscience but also a background in Cognitive and Social Psychology. Graduated with research masters and dissertation. Recipient of a Sigma Xi grant and National Science Foundation grant. Awards for excellence in teaching both within the Psychology and by the graduate college.
Professional Positions
1992-1998 Bowling Green State University Psychology Department, Graduate Student Research Assistant
Research with Dr. Verner P. Bingman includes studying the brain mechanisms responsible for spatial learning and memory in homing pigeons.
Experience includes many aspects of field work, behavioral measures, stereotaxic surgery, perfusion, histology, and immunohistochemistry.
1994-1995 Bowling Green State University Psychology Department, Graduate Student Teaching Assistant
Taught discussion sections of Introductory Psychology for Dr. Richard Anderson and Dr. Kerry Heffner. Experience includes planning lectures, grading, leading class discussions.
1998-2000 Washington State University Zoology Department, Postdoctoral Research Scientist and Instructor
Research in comparative neuroendocrinolgy involving maternal deposition of yolk testosterone in birds. Experience includes many aspects of field work, behavioral measures, and radioimmunoassay.
Taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in human physiology, animal behavior, animals of the Pacific Northwest, neuroethology and neuroendocrinology.
2000-2002 Washington State University School of Biological Sciences
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Postdoctoral Fellow
Research includes the effects of early hormonal exposure on the development of the avian brain.
2002-present, University of Nebraska at Omaha Psychology Department, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Teach undergraduate courses including Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods.
My research interests include behavioral neuroendocrinology and comparative cognition.
Grants
Recipient of the Howard Hughes Grant for undergraduate research while at Hiram College (1992; $750). Support given to study behavioral recovery of septal lesioned gerbils following nerve growth factor (NGF) administration.
Recipient of the Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Grant-in-Aid of Research (1993; $400). Support given to study spatial control of home loft recognition in hippocampal lesioned pigeons.
National Science Foundation Travel Grant (1994; $1,000). Support given to attend NATO Advanced Studies Institute: Behavioral Brain Research in Naturalistic and Semi-Naturalistic Settings
National Institute of Health fellowship (2000-2002; $ 117,696 total for 3 years) entitled “Maternal hormone exposure in the developing avian brain” (1 F32 HD 08542-01A1).
Awards
The Graduate College Teaching Assistant Award (1995). Given by the Graduate College at Bowling Green State University for teaching excellence.
Freeburne Award for Graduate Teaching (1996). Given by the Psychology Department at Bowling Green State University for teaching excellence.
Recipient of the Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Research and Poster Competition (1997) at Bowling Green State University. Award presented for the poster entitled "Time, Space and the Hippocampal Formation: Is the Avian Hippocampal Formation Involved in Learning When a Stimulus is Rewarding?"
Reviewed Publications
Bingman, V. P. and Strasser, R. (1994). Stimulus control and hippocampal regulation of home loft recognition in the homing pigeon. [abstract] Journal Für Ornithologie, 135, 97.
Strasser, R . & Bingman, V. P. (1996). The relative importance of location and feature cues for homing pigeon, Columba livia, goal recognition. Journal of Comparative Psychology, v110 (1), 77-87.
Strasser, R . & Bingman, V. P. (1997). Goal recognition and the homing pigeon, Columba livia, hippocampal formation. Behavioral Neuroscience, 111 (6), 1245-1256.
Budzynski , C.A. , Strasser, R., & Bingman, V. P. (1998). The effects of zinc sulfate anosmia on homing pigeons, Columba livia, in a homing and non-homing experiment. Ethology, 104, 111- 118.
Bingman, V. P., Strasser, R., Baker, C., & Riters, L. V. (1998). Nonspatial, paired-associate learning is unaffected by hippocampal lesions in homing pigeons. Behavioral Neuroscience, 112, 533- 540.
Strasser, R. , Ioale, P., Casini, G., Bagnoli, P., & Bingman, V. P. (1998). The homing pigeon hippocampus and the development of landmark navigation. Developmental Psychobiology, 33 (4), 305- 315.
Strasser, R. & Bingman, V. P. (1999). The effects of hippocampal lesions in homing pigeons on a one-trial food association task. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 185 (6), 583-590.
White, A. R., Strasser, R., & Bingman, V. P. (2002). Homing pigeon spatial relational learning is affected by hippocampal lesions. Learning and Memory, 78, 65-78.
Book Chapters
Bingman, V. P., Jones, T.J., Strasser, R., Gagliardo, A., & Ioale, P. (1995). Homing pigeons, hippocampus and spatial cognition. In: NATO: ASI Behavioral brain research in naturalistic and semi-naturalistic settings: Possibilities and perspectives. (Eds. Alleva, E., Fasolo, A., Lipp, H. P., Nadel, L., and Ricceri, L.). Kluwer Academic Publishers: Netherlands, pp.207- 223.
Bingman, V. P., Riters, L. V., Strasser, R., & Gagliardo, A. (1998). The Neuroethology of Avian Navigation. In: Animal Cognition in Nature. (Eds. Balda, R. P., Pepperburg, I. M., Kamil, A. C.). Academic Press: New York, pp. 201- 226.
Presentations at International and National Meetings
Strasser, R., & Bingman, V. P. (1994). The relative importance of location and feature cues for homing pigeon loft recognition. [poster & abstract] NATO Advanced Studies Institute, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy.
Bingman, V. P., Ioale, P., Casini, G., Bagnoli, P., & Strasser, R. (1994). Critical importance of the hippocampus for local navigational learning in young homing pigeons. [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 24th annual meeting, 414.15.
Duncan, S., Kurz, E., Rivardo, M., & Strasser, R. (1996). Semantic priming in a simple two-layer neural network. [poster] The Psychonomics Society.
Simon, V., Strasser, R., Bingman, V. P., & Holtzman, D.A. (1996). Age-related changes in cell proliferation in homing pigeons [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 26th annual meeting, 267.4.
Bingman, V. P., Baker, C., Riters, L., & Strasser, R. (1996). Homing pigeon visual relational learning is unaffected by hippocampal lesions. [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 26th annual meeting, 443.18.
Strasser, R. & Bingman, V. P. (1996). The homing pigeon hippocampal formation and learning strategies for goal recognition. [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 26th annual meeting, 269.9.
Strasser, R. & Bingman, V. P. (1996). Strategies for food-site recognition in homing pigeons (Columba livia). [poster] Animal Behavior Society, 33rd annual meeting, Northern Arizona University.
White, A. R., Strasser, R., & Bingman, V. P. (1997). Homing pigeon relational learning is affected by hippocampal lesions. [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 27th annual meeting.
Strasser, R ., Ehrlinger, J., & Bingman, V. P. (1998). Transitivity learning is not impaired in homing pigeons with hippocampal lesions. [poster & abstract] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 28th annual meeting.
Strasser, R . & Schwabl, H. (2000.) Yolk testosterone affects the phenotype of male and female house sparrows. [presentation] Western Regional Comparative Endocrinology Conference, Corvallis OR.
Strasser, R . & Schwabl, H. (2000). Organizational effects of yolk testosterone in house sparrows. [presentation] Society for Neuroscience Abstract, 30th annual meeting.
Strasser, R ., Schwabl, H., & Clark, C. (2001). Maternal hormones influence the physiology, morphology and behavior of house sparrows. [poster] Animal Behavior Society, Oregon State University.
Clark, C., Strasser, R., Poopatanapong, A., & Schwabl, H. (2001). Effects of parental investment on offspring development and survival in the house sparrow. [poster] Animal Behavior Society, Oregon State University.
Presentations at Regional Meetings
Strasser, R., and Knight, W. R. (1991). Effects of septal lesions on nesting behavior in gerbils. [presentation] Ohio Undergraduate Conference in Psychology, College of Wooster.
Strasser, R. (1993). The relative importance of spatial and feature cues in homing pigeon loft recognition. [poster] Sigma Xi Graduate and Undergraduate Research Competition. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Strasser, R. (1995). Stimulus control of food-site recognition in homing pigeons: Preferential use of stimuli and a possibility for lateralization. [poster] Sigma Xi Graduate and Undergraduate Research Competition. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Strasser, R. and Bingman, V. P. (1995). Location and feature cues for homing pigeon (Columba livia) goal recognition. [poster] Midwest Animal Behavior Conference, Miami University, Ohio.
Strasser, R. (1996). When is less a brain a better brain? [poster] Sigma Xi Graduate and Undergraduate Research Competition. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Strasser, R. (1997). Time, Space and the Hippocampal Formation: Is the Avian Hippocampal Formation Involved in Learning When a Stimulus is Rewarding? [poster] Sigma Xi Graduate and Undergraduate Research Competition. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Duncan, S., Kurz, E., Rivardo, M., Strasser, R., & Tweney, R. (1997). Semantic priming in a simple two-layer neural network. [poster] Ohio Academy of Sciences. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Ehrlinger, J. Strasser, R., & Bingman, V. P. (1997). Learning in the Absence of Spatial Information. [poster] Sigma Xi Graduate and Undergraduate Research Competition. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
Strasser, R. (1998). Sex Differences and Hormonal Influences on Spatial Behavior. [presentation] Center for Reproductive Biology, 2nd Annual Retreat.
Press Release
Press release given by R. Strasser at the Society for Neuroscience 28th annual meeting (November, 1998) regarding the role of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition and tr ansitivity learning in pigeons.
Invited Seminars
Neural mechanisms of loft identification and food location in homing pigeons. (December, 1994) Psychology Department, University of Toronto, Toronto Canada.
The evolution of cognition and the avian hippocampal formation. (February, 1998) Zoology Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.
The neurobiology of learning and memory. (March, 1998) Psychology Department, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA.
The neuroethology of avian navigation. (September, 1998) Zoology Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.
Sexy dads and buff babies: Maternal testosterone deposition in house sparrows. (April, 2001). Ecology and Evolution group, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.
Courses Taught
Introductory Psychology (Psychology 101)
Instructor at BGSU, 1995- 1996.
Adjunct faculty at Owens Community College, 1997.
Assistant Professor at University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2002, Animal Behavior (Zoology 438 & 538), Research Methods (Psychology)
Instructor at WSU, 1999.
Teaching Assistantships
Introductory Psychology (Psych. 101)
Teaching Assistant at BGSU, 1994- 1995.
Human Physiology (Zoo. 251)
Laboratory Instructor at WSU, Fall 1998.
Service
Reviewer for the Journal of Sex Research (1995-1998)
Student advisor to the Washington State University Canine Club (1999-2000)
Board member of the Humane Society of the Palouse (2000- 2002)
Reviewer for the Journal of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2001)
National Science Foundation Grant Reviewer: Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience (2001)