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. He has supervised over 45 undergraduate senior thesis projects over the past eleven years and 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.

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. In 1998, Dr. Kerchner was the recipient of the Washington College Alumni Award for distinguished teaching.

In the 2002-2003 academic year, Dr Kerchner is on sabbatical leave. During this period he has 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 is directed toward testing a variety of drugs for their neuroprotectant properties.

Selected Publications

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