WHAT: University of Nebraska at Kearney Science Café
HOSTED BY: Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society
TITLE: “Through the Eyes of an Animal: How Does Personality, Brain, and Genetics Influence Responses to Stress and Anxiety?
SPEAKER / PRESENTER: Dr. Ryan Wong, Department of Biology, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Wong was born and raised in the New England area (Brockton, Massachusetts). For his undergraduate studies, he went to Cornell University, where he double-majored in biology and natural resources. He completed a Ph.D. in 2011 in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Texas in Austin. He then moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate position at North Carolina State University. In 2014, Wong joined the faculty in the Department of Biology at University of Nebraska at Omaha as an assistant professor. He teaches classes within the Neuroscience Program, and his lab investigates the causes and consequences of particular ways animals overcome stress.
ABSTRACT: Many of us experience stress and anxiety in our daily tasks and we often successfully overcome these challenges. We are all “wired” differently, which lead to our own individual responses to adversity. However, did you know the many animals that we encounter every day from the fish in the stream, to the bird flying overhead, to our own pets, also encounter stressful challenges? How can personality type influence an animal’s behavior and thinking? What are these “wires” in ourselves (and other animals) that allow us to cope? Wong will be discussing some answers to these questions. He will explore how different personality types respond to challenges in the environment with a special focus on investigating the roles of certain “wires” (genetics and the brain) in these responses.
TIME: 5:30 p.m.
DATE: Monday, Nov. 12
PLACE: The Loft, Cunningham’s Journal, 15 W. 23rd St., Kearney
CONTACT: Allen A. Thomas, assistant professor of chemistry, 308.865.8452, thomasaa@unk.edu
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