Episode 05: Erica Glasper, PhD

The following interview was conducted during the Spring 2021 session of Hidden Figures: Brain Science through Diversity, taught by Dr. Adema Ribic at the University of Virginia. Grayson Fisher, Mohammed Rayan Hossain, and Ananya Suram drafted Dr. Glasper’s biography. The final editing was by Dr. Adema Ribic.

Dr. Erica Glasper is a behavioral neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland. Her research uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine the role of natural experiences, including mating, parenthood, and social bonding, in shaping the developing and adult brain. Her laboratory observed the first alterations in hippocampal dendritic morphology and behavioral function induced by social bonding and fatherhood in California mice (Peromyscus californicus). As of fall 2021, Dr. Glasper is faculty in the Department of Neuroscience at the Ohio State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Glasper, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Can you tell us a bit about your upbringing-where did you go to school?

I completed my K-12 education in the Norfolk Public School system in Norfolk, VA.

How was your experience in school?

I had a very enjoyable K-12 experience (that I can remember!). I entered the Gifted and Talented Program in the 1st grade and remained in that program through the 5th grade. I’m not sure why that program didn’t exist during my 6th thru 8th-grade years. However, once I entered high school, I entered the Magnet School for the Health and Science Professions. I took many of my science-related courses at the Magnet School, which was housed at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA.

Did you attend AP classes?

Yes, many of them! My senior year of high school was a very heavy load with many AP classes, including English, Environmental Science, and Biology

Did you know you wanted to be a scientist in school or later?

Oh, it was much later! I wanted to be a lawyer, then a cardiothoracic surgeon, and then a scientist. However, the latter didn’t materialize until I was in college. I wasn’t privy to Neuroscience while in high school, so I didn’t know that studying the brain “was a thing”. It wasn’t until I met a Professor in undergrad that I became highly interested in pursuing science as a career.

Where did you go to college?

I attended Randolph-Macon College (R-MC) in Ashland, Virginia.

What did you major in?

I majored in Psychology and minored in Biology. Neuroscience was not a major at R-MC.

Did you do research during college?

I did! I started performing research as a freshman and continued until I graduated. I remained in the same lab the entire time. Well, I did study abroad for one summer and performed research in Sweden in a neural stem cell research lab.

What did you do after graduation?

After graduation, I prepared to enter graduate school.  I did not take any gap years.

Where did you go to graduate school?

I attended The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

What are the highlights of your graduate work?

Oh wow, great question! One of the highlights of my graduate work was learning how health outcomes could be altered by positive social interactions. I never realized how much this research would shape the questions I ask today.

Did you complete postdoctoral training and where?

Yes, I did. I completed 5 years of postdoctoral training at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.

What are the highlights of your postdoctoral work?

During this time, I learned a number of techniques to access plasticity in the brain. Also, it was during this time that I was able to ask questions that truly interested me. The questions related to experience-related plasticity laid the foundation for my work as an independent researcher.

When did you start your lab?

I started my lab, at the University of Maryland (UMD), in the fall of 2011.

What are the main research topics of your lab?

My lab investigates how experiences shape the developing and adult brain. These experiences are natural experiences, like mating and parenting, that occur in a number of species and are observed in the “wild”. For example, I try to mimic natural events that an organism might encounter to try to understand how these experiences shape both the structure and function of the brain.

What are some major discoveries you and your team published on?

My team was the first to observe social bonding- and fatherhood-induced alterations in dendritic morphology and behavioral functioning of the hippocampus of California mice (Peromyscus californicus). My lab was among the few labs to utilize the California mouse (P. californicus) as a model to study parental experience-induced alterations in adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

How did your work evolve over time?

My work was influenced by the data that we observed and the questions that we were asking. If you’d ever asked me if I would be modeling early-life stress and trying to understand sex-dependent effects in early-life stress, I would have laughed. This was not something that I encountered during my training and may not have ever sought out to study. However, give the animal model that I’m using, it has become one of my lab’s most interesting projects.

What other non-research roles did you hold in the past and do you currently hold?

Currently, I am the co-chair of the Department of Psychology’s Diversity Committee. I have held this role for a number of years. I am also the Director of Admissions and an Associate Chair in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science at UMD. I am also a member of the IACUC committee at UMD. I also serve on a number of other committees at UMD. Recently, I was elected to the Board of Trustees for Randolph-Macon College.

Who are your role models/biggest influencers on your science?

That is such a hard question to answer and I can’t name just one person. I’ll say this, I have been fortunate enough to be trained by a number of women in neuroscience. In fact, I’ve only been trained by women in neuroscience. Each one of my mentors/advisors has inspired me and significantly contributed to my development as a scientist.

Have you published any work outside of your own field?

I don’t believe so!

Any interesting tidbits?

Interesting tidbit! Well, I am the mother of two beautiful daughters (Avery is 6yo, Teigan is 13mo). I’ve been married to my husband for 8 years. We all love our time together (even during the pandemic!). I love to sing. I competed during high school and was a member of 3 choirs/ensembles during college.

 This interview was conducted during the Spring Session of UVA’s Hidden Figures class in 2021. Class roster:

Addis, Lucas; Ahmed, Anushey; Akram, Amman; Alam, Maisha; Anderson, Sydney; Bhatia, Rhianna; Bonagiri, Paavan; Booth, Morgan; Clarke, Casey; Fisher, Grayson; Gandhi, Shreyal; Hossain, Mohammed; Rayan; Jensen, Kate; Kim, Michael; Lahham, Zina; Lea-Smith, Kori; Leffler, Schuyler; Leventhal, Emily; Mehfoud, Matthew; Morrisroe, Erin; Pham, Twindy; Sajonia, Isabelle; Sisk, Emma; Suram, Ananya; Wang, Jessica Beth; Webster, Tessa; Wilson, Gina. TA: McDonald, Amalia. Instructor: Ribic, Adema, PhD.

 Photo by UMD, used with permission.