psychobiology

Master of Arts (M.A.): Students can earn an M.A. degree and Ph.D. in psychology with concentrations in animal behavior or behavioral neuroscience. Requirements for completion of the degree include four core courses in psychology and three to four additional courses in the student's area of interest. Research is also required, including completion and defense of a doctoral dissertation.

 

faculty

Jeffrey French

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

e-mail: jfrench@mail.unomaha.edu

Phone: (402) 554-2558

Research: Social behavior and social endocrinology in marmoset and tamarin monkeys and Mongolian gerbils. For more information, visit the Callitrichid Research Center.

 

Shelton Hendricks

(Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences)

Ph.D., Tulane University

e-mail: sendricks@mail.unomaha.edu

Phone: (402) 554-2338

Research Interests: Human psychophysiology and pharmacology. Neural mediation of copulatory behavior, and sexual differentiation in rats.

 

Suzanne Sollars

(Director, Psychobiology Graduate Programs)

Ph.D., University of Washington

e-mail: ssollars@mail.unomaha.edu

Phone: (402) 554-3981

Research Interests: Sensory neurophysiology and neuroanatomy. Development and neurobiological malleability of the taste system.

 

Rosemary Strasser

Ph.D., Bowling Green State University

e-mail: rstrasser@mail.unomaha.edu

Phone: (402) 554-2705

Research Interests: Behavioral neuroendocrinology; comparative cognition, animal learning.

adjunct faculty

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Faculty associated with the Psychobiology Program have extensive collaborative interactions with faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Psychobiology students have access to the libraries and other resources of the Medical Center as well as excellent opportunities to take courses and work in laboratories at the Medical Center. Faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center are available to students as advisors. Faculty who hold courtesy appointments in the Psychology Department are:

Jorge Rodriguez-Sierra

Ph.D. Rutgers University

e-mail: jrodrigu@unmc.edu

nebraska behavioral biology group

In order to facilitate study and research in behavioral biology, faculty from three universities in eastern Nebraska Creighton University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha have formed the Nebraska Behavioral Group. This organization fosters inter-campus efforts in research, supports seminars and speaker programs, and generally provides a mechanism through which students from any one of the three institutions can have access to faculty and resources of the others.

core faculty

Alexandra Basolo

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Joseph Dulka

Ph.D., University of Alberta

Dan Leger

Ph.D., University of California-Davis

William Wagner, Jr.

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Theodore Burk

Ph.D., Oxford University

Al Kamil

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

Davis Stephens

Ph.D. Oxford University

laboratory resources

The Psychology Department maintains several laboratory facilities including a computerized statistics lab, several experimental labs, observation facilities, and a psychophysiology/neurophysiology lab. The Psychobiology labs have facilities for tissue processing, microscopic evaluation and image analysis, and a large endocrine laboratory. There is vivarium space for small primates, laboratory rodents, and other mammalian species. Students specializing in Psychobiology also have access to the University of Nebraska Medical Center's biochemistry and electron microscope laboratories, as well as facilities at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. This zoo has a strong commitment to research in biological sciences, including the behavioral sciences, and is generous with respect to access to animals and laboratories.

Access to computers for data analysis, database searches, and on line management of experiments is also provided.

student support

Both teaching and research assistantships are available and are awarded on a competitive basis. Limited fellowships are also available. Assistantships and fellowships carry a stipend and include waiver of tuition.

professional associations

Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Society for Neuroscience

Animal Behavior Society