Core Faculty
Participating NSB Program faculty are actively involved in research on the nervous system and/or behavior in laboratory or natural settings. The largest number of participating NSB Program faculty (80%) reside in the Biology or Psychology departments.
In addition, several other departments, including Computer Science, Chemistry, Kinesiology, Biochemistry, and Veterinary and Animal Sciences have participating faculty members who train graduate students through the NSB Program.
Select a research area to see an alphabetical list of faculty and their specialized research interests.
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Annaliese Beery
Assistant Professor
Departments of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Biology
Smith College
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience; Neuroendocrinology
Research Interests: Study of the neurobiology of group-living rodents to understand pathways supporting affiliative social behavior between peers. A second focus is the study of epigenetic mechanisms (among others) by which experience changes the brain and behavior.
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Kyle R. Cave
Professor
Department of Psychology
413-545-2787
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Sensorimotor, Cognitive, and Computational Neuroscience
Research Interests: The various aspects of visual cognition, including visual attention, visual imagery, and object recognition.
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Duncan J. Irschick
Professor
Department of Biology
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Neuroendocrinology
Research Interests: Evolution and ecology of animal performance. The evolution of complex functional systems in all its facets. Integrates microevolutionary and macroevolutionary approaches, and applies both experimental and descriptive approaches to understand the causes of, and ultimately the consequences of this diversity.
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Elizabeth M. Jakob
Professor
Department of Psychology
413-577-0707
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning
Research Interests: Jumping spiders have different types of eyes: the principal eyes act like tiny telephoto lenses, while the secondary eyes have a wider range of view and are thought to be specialized in detecting motion.
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Agnès Lacreuse
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
413-545-2183
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Neuroendocrinology; Sensorimotor, Cognitive, and Computational Neuroscience
Research Interests: Understand how sex steroid hormones modulate cognition and emotion across the lifespan of primates.
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Melinda Novak
Professor
Department of Psychology
413-545-2387
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning
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Sarah Partan
Associate Professor
School of Cognitive Science
Hampshire College
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning
Research Interests: How animals communicate with audio and visual signals, focusing on the interactions among signal components from different sensory channels that are emitted simultaneously.
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Jeffrey E. Podos
Professor
Department of Biology
413-545-0847
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning
Research Interests: Interface of animal behavior, organismal biology, and evolutionary biology.
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Luke Remage-Healey
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
413-545-0772
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience; Neuroendocrinology
Research Interests: Study of behavioral physiology, specifically the non-traditional regulation of brain function and behavior by steroid hormones.
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Heather N. Richardson
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
413-545-0166
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience; Neural and Behavioral Development; Neuroendocrinology
Research Interests: The focus of the Stress and Addiction Lab is to determine the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress-related disorders using rodent models.
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James K. Rowlett
Associate Professor
Division of Behavioral Biology
New England Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Research Interests: Investigating the behavioral and neurobiological effects of drugs used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders, as well as drugs that are commonly abused.
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Hava T. Siegelmann
Professor
Department of Computer Science
413-577-4282
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning; Sensorimotor, Cognitive, and Computational Neuroscience
Research Interests: Characterizing computation and information processing in brain. Theories for brain-like computation: adaptive, analog, and its correlation with memory reconsolidation, cognition, and adaptive perception, Brain inspired computation for use in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, algorithms and technologies. Dynamical systems in time-based brain computation, in brain disease and health.
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John G. Stoffolano, Jr.
Professor
Department of Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences
413-545-1046
Research Areas: Animal Behavior and Learning
Research Interests: "Feeding Behavior of Flies" "Insect Behavior" "Insects in the K-12 Classroom" "Mating Behavior of Flies" "Reproductive Biology of Flies" "Saltmarsh Tabanid Biology"