W&J: Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson is an associate professor in the Psychology department. She teaches courses in physiological psychology, drugs and behavior, sex and gender, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral neuroscience in the department. Dr. Wilson also has an interest in interdisciplinary areas, and teaches courses in the Gender and Women's Studies Program, Neuroscience Program, and the Mind, Brain and Behavior Program. She serves on the steering committees for all three of these programs, and serves as Program Director for Mind, Brain and Behavior. Dr. Wilson also serves as the Division Director for the Natural Science and Mathematics Division.

Dr. Wilson has research interests in two areas. The lifelong effects of exposure to stress early in development is one area. Rat pups isolated from their mother several times in the first two weeks of life show cognitive, emotional and behavioral effects for the remainder of their lives. She is working with students and faculty collaborators to study some of the biochemical changes associated with this manipulation. Evidence suggests that this might be a useful model to study schizophrenia in humans. The second area of interest is in evolutionary psychology, and involves tracking the ratio of males to females in the United States, and correlating that ratio with variables related to social and economic features of the environment.