Mark Zrull is a professor in the Dept. of Psychology at Appalachian State University. In addition to teaching a first year seminar about the brain, which he loves to do, Dr. Zrull teaches courses in biological psychology, other areas of neuroscience, and assorted seminars exploring connections between neuroscience and other disciplines. He also spends lots of time collaborating with students in his behavioral neuroscience research lab. Dr. Zrull and his research team investigate the impact of environmental enrichment during adolescence on risk taking, preference, and recognition behavior as well as neural activity in relevant brain structures of rats. Mark typically collaborates with a number of undergraduates researchers and advises these and other students who often continue their training in neuroscience and related disciplines. In addition to teachers, lawyers, business people and working in many other professions, a number of his former students are now faculty, research scientists, or working in the health professions. Mark has also worked on projects that integrate aspects of undergraduates' residence life and academic experiences such as Community of Science Interest (a Residential Learning Community, RLC), being a Residence Hall Faculty Fellow, and most recently taking a lead role in the Brain Matters RLC. Dr. Zrull received his B.S. from Georgia State University and took his Ph.D. training in General Experimental Psychology at the University of South Carolina. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison before joining the Appalachian State faculty in 1992.
