People

Principal Investigator

Graduate Students

Kali Burke, Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Area of Psychology
B.A. Psychology (Daemen College)
Research Interests: I am interested in production and perception of ultrasonic vocalization in mice. I am also interested in the effects of mild traumatic brain injuries on the auditory system.
Email: kaliburk@buffalo.edu

Huaizhen Cai, Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Area of Psychology,
B.S., M.E. Environmental Engineering (Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China)
Research Interests: I am interested in auditory scene analysis in birds. Specifically, I am interested in how the birds segregate interested sound source from a multi-sources sound scene.
Email: huaizhen@buffalo.edu

Payton Charlton, Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Area of Psychology,
B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Evansville
Research Interests: I am interested in ultrasonic vocalizations in mice and their role, if any, in communication between mice. I am also interested in the perception and production of in simple and complex auditory vocalizations in both mice and birds.
Email: paytonch@buffalo.edu

Faiza Hafeez, Ph.D. student in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior
M.Phil. Wildlife Ecology (Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan), B.S. Environmental Science (Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan)
Research Interests: I am interested in the ecological role of cognitive abilities in natural populations. Particularly, I am interested in the links between auditory perception and cognition and reproductive success in avian systems.
Email: faizahaf@buffalo.edu

Anastasiya Kobrina, Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Area of Psychology, B.S. Psychology (University at Buffalo)
Research Interests: I am interested in understanding the effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife. Particularly, I am interested in investigating the relationship between aging, hearing loss, and noise and light pollution on acoustic communication in animals. Presently I am investigating the effects of age related hearing loss on the detection of simple and complex acoustic signals in mice.
Email: akobrina@buffalo.edu

Will Smith-Peters, Master’s Student in the Cognitive Area of Psychology, BA, California State University Chico
Research Interests: I am interested in comparative cognition, particularly hearing and auditory temporal resolution in mice with hearing deficits/loss. I am also interested in speech/music perception in Budgerigars.
Email: wasmithp@buffalo.edu

Hannah Thorner, Master’s Student in the Evolution, Ecology, & Behavior Program (EEB), BS in Biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology
Research Interests: I am interested in how hearing loss affects animals, whether is it from aging or another influence. I am curious about how these animals adapt and communicate with the deficit.
Email: hlthorne@buffalo.edu

Undergraduates/Research Assistants

Charles Whittle

Lab Manager

Jack Kiesow

Former PhD Students

Laurel Screven, Ph.D. in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program (Psychology), B.S. Psychology, Ph.D. Behavioral
Neuroscience (University at Buffalo)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research Interests: I am interested in the production, perception, and significance of ultrasonic vocalizations in regards to communication in mice. More specifically, are mice using their vocalizations to communicate with each other?
Email: laurelsc@buffalo.edu

Former Senior Honors Students 

Kristin Tymchak, B.A. Psychology (University at Buffalo)
Research Interests: I am interested in examining how social experiences influence mouse USV production. In particular, I am interested in investigating if socially housed mice emit USVs to communicate with one another after being separated for various increments of time.

Nina Baldy, B.A. Psychology (University at Buffalo)
Research Interests: I am curious about the role social experience plays in the way animals communicate with each other. Specifically, I would like to know whether socially raised mice can discriminate between vocalizations made by familiar and unfamiliar animals.

Nicole Hunter, B.A. Psychology (University at Buffalo)
Research Interests: I am interested in seeing whether mice prefer the ultrasonic vocalizations from a “friend”, or a “stranger”. I predict the mice will prefer to listen to calls emitted from “friends” in a preference task.