background
Dr. Harshaw earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Science, with a specialization in Developmental Psychobiology, at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Working in the lab of Dr. Robert Lickliter, his graduate work focused on the development of social perception. In particular, on how young birds come to form preferences for maternal cues after hatching (i.e., filial imprinting) and how this process is influenced by prenatal experience (e.g., Harshaw & Lickliter, 2011). He subsequently completed a post-doc, with a focus on mouse models of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and Behavioral Neuroscience, and was later promoted to Assistant Research Scientist at Indiana University. Working in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Alberts, he focused on improving methods for analyzing simple forms of social behavior in mice, particularly huddling (Harshaw & Alberts, 2012; Harshaw, Culligan, & Alberts, 2014). During this time, Dr. Harshaw also acquired general expertise in the psychobiology of social behavior in rodents and conducted a number of experiments aimed at examining the interrelation of social and metabolic phenotypes in mice (e.g., Harshaw, Leffel, & Alberts, 2018). Since the Fall of 2017 he has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Orleans (UNO), in New Orleans, Louisiana.
At UNO, Dr. Harshaw leads the Mechanisms Underlying Sociality (MUS) Lab, which is focused on better understanding the relationship between homeostatic issues and social deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.
research interests
- Social Behavior and Cognition
- Homeostatic mechanisms
- Developmental Psychobiology
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Mouse Models of Autism
vitae
courses taught
- Introduction to Biopsychology
- Comparative Psychology / Animal Behavior and Cognition
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Advanced Statistics I (graduate)
- Genes & Behavior (graduate)
- Developmental Theory (graduate)
- Developmental Psychobiology (graduate)
- Professional Ethics for the Biobehavioral Sciences (graduate)