VLADIMIR V. PRAVOSUDOV, PhD

Department of Biology

University of Nevada Reno

Reno, NV 95616-8519

Phone: 775 784 1271 (work)/530 400 9116 (cell phone)

Fax:     775 784 1302

Email: vpravosu at unr.edu

EMPLOYMENT:

2009- current: Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno

2005 - 2009: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno.

2002-2005: Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis.

2002 (Summer Session): Lecturer (Animal Behavior), Section of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis.

2002 (Spring Quarter): Lecturer (Animal Behavior), Section of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis.

1999-2002: NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Section of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, CA. Supervisor: Dr. N. S. Clayton.

1997-1999: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Supervisor: Dr. J. R. Lucas.

1996-1997: Presidential Fellow, Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, Supervisor: Dr. T. C. Grubb, Jr.

1994-1996: Graduate Fellow, Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Supervisor: Dr. T. C. Grubb, Jr.

1991-1994: Teaching Associate, Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Supervisor: Dr. T. C. Grubb, Jr.

1983-1991: Researcher, Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Academy of Sciences of Russia, Magadan, Russia

EDUCATION:

Ph. D., Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1991-1997

          Thesis: Energy management in wintering birds.

B.S. Zoology, State University of Leningrad, Leningrad, Russia, 1978-1983

          Thesis: Foraging and food-caching ecology of willow (Parus montanus) and Siberian (P. cinctus) tits.

HONORS, AWARDS AND GRANTS:

2009: NSF (award # 0918268; Behavioral Systems Cluster); PIs: Dr. Lara LaDage and Vladimir Pravosudov, University of Nevada Reno, Dr. Barry Sinervo (UC Santa Cruz). "Causes and consequences of variation in the hippocampus of individuals utilizing different spatial strategies". Period of support: 08/01/2009-07/30/2013; Total costs: $400,000.

2007: NIH (NIMH) R21 (MH079892), PI; "Hippocampal neurogenesis and memory". Period of support: 03/01/2007-02/28/2009; Total costs: $350,417.

2007: NIH (NIMH) R01 (MH076797), PI; "Effect of social environment on memory, hippocampal structure and neurogenesis". Period of support: 02/01/2007-12/31/2009; Total costs: $568,013.

2006: NSF research grant (IOB-0615021), PI; “The relationship between reliance on food caching, spatial memory and the hippocampus – an intraspecific comparison”. Period of support: 09/01/2006- 08/31/2010; Total costs: $393,338.

2004: Invited plenary speaker at the 10^th Jubilee Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology, Jyvaskyla, Finland. Topic: Spatial memory in food caching birds – from natural history to mechanisms.

2004: Invited symposium speaker at VIII International Symposium on Avian Endocrinology, Scottsdale, AZ. Topic – Long-term moderately elevated corticosterone and spatial memory.

2003: Academic Federation Research Travel Award ($600). University of California Davis.

2002: NIH(NIMH) Career Award (K01); “The effect of stress on memory and the brain”; Period of support 09/01/2002 – 08/31/2005; $344,635.

The main goal of the study is to investigate how nutritional and social stress are mediated by stress hormones, and their effects on memory and hippocampal plasticity using mountain chickadees and scrub jays.

1999: NIH (NIDA) National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows; “Spatial memory and the brain under demanding conditions”; Period of support 09/01/1999 – 08/31/2002; $120,084.

Specific aims of the study were (1) to analyze the effect of unpredictable food on memory and brain morphology in food-caching chickadees by manipulating food supply and (2) to examine the effect of high energetic demands resulting from long winters on memory and brain morphology by comparing birds from high (Alaska) and low (Colorado) latitudes.

1999: System Neuroscience Research Training Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis (Declined)

1997: NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment ($80,000); Period of support 09/01/1997 – 08/31/1999.

          The Fellowship supported my study of the effects of social dominance on body fat and food caches in Carolina chickadees using experiments and dynamic modeling.

1997: The Darwin Award for the outstanding oral presentation by a zoology graduate student at a regional, national or international meeting, Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University

1996: Presidential Fellowship, The Ohio State University (12 months, $13,200)

1994: Graduate Student Alumni Research Award, The Ohio State University ($1,300)

1994: Pre-doctoral Fellowship from Smithsonian Institution, Migratory Bird Center (24 months)

1993: Roger Tory Peterson Institute Travel Award given by the Wilson Ornithological Society

1993: National Bird-Feeding Society Research Grant ($700)

1992: National Bird-Feeding Society Research Grant ($600)

1991: Guest Scholarship/Council of Europe Scholarship to study at the Department of Zoology, University of Stockholm, Sweden (Declined)

1990: Scholarship from the Department of Zoology, University of Oulu, Finland (2 months)

1989: Scholarship from the Department of Zoology, University of Oulu, Finland (1 month)

MAJOR RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Neuroecology

Behavioral Endocrinology

Cognitive Ecology

Animal Behavior

Behavioral Ecology

Evolutionary Biology

Conservation Biology