Pete Hurd, Associate Prof.
Department of Psychology, &
Centre for Neuroscience
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2E9

Ph (office) : 780.492-3578
Ph (dry lab) : 780.492-5259
Ph (wet lab) : 780.492-8058
Fax (dept): 780.492-1768
e-mail: phurd@ualberta.ca

Office: Biological Sciences Building, Room P-445
Office Hours: TBA

Honours Advising Office (BS-P 222C) Hours:
Honours Advising hours: TBA
 Pete Hurd
Peter L. Hurd @ ResearchGate, ResearcherID, GoogleScholar

Education and Employment:

Associate Chair, Undergraduate Programs 2012 Department of Psychology, University of Alberta
on Sabbatical 2009 in Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University with Bernie Crespi
Associate Professor 2007 Department of Psychology, University of Alberta
Member 2006 Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta
Assistant Professor 2001 Department of Psychology, University of Alberta
Lecturer (Biostatistics) 2000 School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
Post-Doctoral Fellow 1999 Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin with Mike Ryan
Ph.D. 1997 Zoology Institute, Stockholm University with Magnus Enquist
M.Sc. 1993 Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University with Ron Ydenberg
B.Sc. (with Highest Honours) 1990 Departments of Biology & Psychology, Carleton University with Pat Weatherhead.

Teaching and Advising:

A list of courses I have taught, some words about my teaching philosophy etc are on my Teaching Page, a collection of gathered wisdom for students on the general topic of learning and scholarship can be found on my Page of Assorted Cruft.

Science Honours Advising: By appointment.

Research and Supervision in the Sex & Violence Lab:

The long term goal of my research is to understand the causes, both evolutionary and developmental, of individual differences in aggressiveness and other social behaviours. My work has examined how individual variation in social behaviour, i) evolves — through the use of game theoretical models, ii) is tied to genetic variation — through the use of molecular genetics, and iii) is tied to brain structure and function — using a variety of neuroscience techniques. Using both humans and cichlid fish as research subjects, members of my lab investigate the links between genes, hormones, brain and behaviour. We are interested in phenomena apparently related to sexual differentiation, such as aggression, handedness, autism, schizophrenia, and social intelligence, as well as phenomena linked to stress coping, including programming effects of early developmental stress exposure, variation in stress coping style, the development of bold vs. shy personalities and susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder.

By training I am a behavioural ecologist. Much of my earlier work studied the evolution of social behaviour between individuals in situations of conflict. I have been particularly interested in communication and decision making in aggressive interactions. I have used both mathematical modelling (game theory, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and stochastic dynamic programming models), and empirical research (from experimental economics and whole organismal behavioural ecology to molecular genetics and immunocytochemistry of brain regions involved in sexual and aggressive behaviours).

A write-up of some of my more recent research can be found in this departmental Researcher Highlight, an amusing older Prof of the Month interview, an informal university profile of some of my older research can be found here. University coverage of some of my grad student, Allie Bailey's, work. More coverage by of the same work by the BBC, the New York Times, Discover Magazine, Scientific American Mind, National Geographic and Jay Leno.

Research Opportunities: I am usually looking for prospective lab members. Undergraduate Psychology students interested in working on a PSYCO 299 (2nd year students), PSYCO 496/498 Individual Study project, or Honours Project. Neuroscience students interested in examining neurological basis of personality in animals, Prospective graduate students with research experience, and postdoctoral researchers with funding are all encouraged to contact me.

Recent Work: (2005 to present)

Full publication list here