Rodney Clark
Title: Associate Professor
Title 2: Neuroscience Department Chair
Department: Neuroscience
Other Departments:Psychology
Degrees: B.A., California State University-Long Beach; M.A., Ph.D., Western Michigan University
Contact Info
Email: rodney.clark@allegheny.edu
Phone: (814) 332-4960
Office Info
Office Location: Carnegie Hall 21
Office Hours: MWF 9:00am-11:00pm
About
Rodney received a B.A. degree from California State University Long Beach in 1980, an M.S. from Western Michigan University in 1988, and a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University in 1990. His M.S. and Ph.D. research was in the experimental analysis of behavior with a specialty in behavioral pharmacology. Rod’s primary teaching and research interests are neurobehavioral pharmacology, operant conditioning, drugs and social issues and drug abuse in both young adult and geriatric populations. He teaches the Psychology of Learning, Introduction to Behavioral Pharmacology, Current Issues in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Behavioral Mechanisms of Drug Action, Biomedical Ethics, and Drugs and Society.
Rodney’s current research interests concern the behavioral pharmacology of drug interactions with motivative variables. At present, Rodney is currently conducting research examining the relationship between excitatory amino acids (EAA), such as NMDA, and unlearned motivative variables. NMDA as well as other EAA’s produce a marked increase in water consumption These studies specifically examine how water-reinforced operant behavior maybe maintained by injections of NMDA without water deprivation. His hobbies include restoration of “sixties muscle cars”, football, bowling, golf, and simulation wargames.
