9/17/12
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Psychology Professor Kelly Lambert |
Randolph-Macon College’s Kelly Lambert, the Macon and Joan Brock Professor of Psychology, was recently interviewed on
Big Picture Science, a radio show and podcast.
Big Picture Science is known for its lively combination of scientific research and engaging storytelling.
Lambert’s interview, titled Oh, Rats!, addresses the unique role that rats play in neuroscience and medical research due to the complexity of these adaptive mammals and the fact that their brains, although smaller, are perfect models of the human brain.
“Rats are survivors,” says Lambert. “They have been at this ‘living game’ much longer than humans. Consequently, the research my students and I have conducted suggests that we can identify central truths about successful, adaptive living from these impressive animals—information about everyday behaviors we share with the rats such as social interactions, eating, grooming, parenting, learning—even laughing!”
Lambert, who serves as chair of the
Psychology Department, joined the faculty in 1989. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Samford University and her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Lambert, a co-director of the Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (
SURF) program, was in 2007 awarded the Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Professor Award at R-MC.
In 2008 she was named
Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
She is the author of
Lifting Depression: A neuroscientist’s hands-
on approach to activating your brain’s healing power (Basic Books, 2008),
The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet's Most Successful Mammals (Perigee Penguin, 2011),
Clinical Neuroscience (Oxford University Press, 2010) and is currently writing
Biopsychology (Oxford University Press).