Michael Kerchner, Ph.D. graduated with a B.S. in psychology in 1978 from American International College in Springfield MA. His graduate degrees were earned at Lehigh University in 1984 (M.S.) and 1988 (Ph.D.). From 1988-1991, Dr. Kerchner was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Villanova University in the laboratory of Ingeborg Ward, where he studied the effects of prenatal stress on the development of neuroanatomical sex differences in the rat brain. His research interests span such topics as the hormonal regulation of behavior, rodent chemo-communication, psychopharmacology, developmental neuroanatomy, and comparative psychology. Professor Kerchner has published articles in such journals as Brain Research, Hormones and Behavior, Behavioral and Neural Biology, The Journal of Comparative Psychology, and Psychological Bulletin.

Since the program was established in 1993, Dr.Kerchner has served as advisor to psychology majors who are participating in the department's Concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. In addition he is advisor to Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, and a founding member and past President of the local campus chapter of Sigma Xi. Each year, he typically supervises five undergraduate senior capstone projects, and has co-authored numerous student poster presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) and various regional undergraduate research conferences. In 1998, Dr. Kerchner was the recipient of the Washington College Alumni Award for distinguished teaching.

In the 2002-2003 academic year, Dr Kerchner was on sabbatical leave. During this period he had a National Research Council Fellowship at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) located at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland. His work there was directed toward testing a variety of drugs for their neuroprotectant properties.

During 2005-06, Dr. Kerchner was the President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN). Dr K has helped organize and been a presenter at several workshops sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) and has been a member of PKAL Faculty for the 21st Century since 1996. Presently he is co-PI on the Keck/PKAL Facilitating Interdisciplinary Learning project.

Selected Publications

Kerchner, M. (2005). Editorial. Blueprints for undergraduate neuroscience curricula: Roadmaps to what end? Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 4(1), E1-E2.

Kerchner, M. (2004). Ultrasonic courtship vocalizations of adult mice: a laboratory exercise illustrating comparable activation by either estradiol or testosterone. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 2(2):A50-A61.

Kerchner, M., Malsbury, C.W., Ward, O.B. & Ward, I. (1995). Sexually dimorphic areas in the rat medial amygdala: Resistance to the demasculinizing effect of prenatal stress. Brain Research, 672, 251-260.

Sipos, M.L., Kerchner, M., & Nyby, J. (1992). An ephemeral sex pheromone in the urine of female house mice (Mus domesticus). Behavioral and Neural Biology, 58, 138-143.

Kerchner, M. & Ward, I.L. (1992). SDN-MPOA volume in male rats is decreased by prenatal stress, but is not related to ejaculatory behavior. Brain Research, 581, 244-251.

Grisham, W., Kerchner, M., & Ward, I.L. (1991). Prenatal stress alters sexually dimorphic nuclei in the spinal cord of male rats. Brain Research, 551, 126-131.

Current Student Projects in Dr. Kerchner's Laboratory

Recently, students and I have been conducting a number of studies designed to identify the influence of steroid hormones on the behavior of mice in variety of behavioral paradigms in addition to ASR and PPI. These studies will first examine the activational effects of androgens and estrogens in each of these paradigms and subsequent studies will examine what role these same hormones may play early in the development to establish sex differences in mature mice. Building upon the research conducted during my most recent sabbatical, some studies will also examine the neuroprotectant properties of various neurosteroids and sex difference in recovery from neurotrauma.

Here are a few capstone projects completed by recent graduates of the behavioral neuroscence program:

Shaina Garrison ('10) The Effects of an NMDA Receptor ANtagonist on Object Recognition and Spatial Memory in Female Mice.

Sarah Macht ('10) The Determination of Fluoxetine in Biological Specimens by 19F-NMR Spectroscopy.

Dominique Scutella ('10) Uncovering the Neural Basis of Stress and Neurogenesis in a Predator Odor Model of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.