Current work address: Babes-Bolyai University Department of Psychology Republicii 37 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania www.geocities.com/a_s_rusu Phone number: +40-746566311 Fax number: +40-264-590967 E-mail address: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

-         mechanisms of individual recognition in mammals

-         dispersal propensity and aggression in wild house mice

-         communal breeding and dominance-based social organization in female mammals

-         social coping mechanisms in animals

-         olfactory social memory in mammals

-         animal models of anxiety and depression

-         behavioural engineering in captive animals

-         animal assisted therapy and animal assisted activities

-         evolutionary biology and applied behavioural ecology, in general.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING RECORD

June 2006 - present: Postdoctoral Researcher at The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

January 2005 - May 2006: Researcher, Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

October 2005 - present: Training in Animal Assisted Therapy (Distance Study Program), College of Education, University of North Texas.

September 2005: Training in Non-invasive Analysis of Hormones (certificate awarded). Berlin Summer School, IZW.

November 2004 - December 2004: Research assistant, Institute of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

May 2004 - June 2004: Organizer of the Journal Club "Animal Emotions and Cognition" (joint action with Prof. Dr. Marta Manser), Institute of Zoology, University of Zurich.

March 2004 - September 2004: BSE-Diagnostic assistant at Prionics AG, Schlieren, Switzerland.

September 2000 - April 2004: PhD student at University of Zurich

15^th of April, 2004: PhD degree obtained at University of Zurich, Institute of Zoology, Switzerland. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Barbara Koenig and PD Dr. S. Krackow.

Title of thesis: Development of competitive behavioural profiles in wild house mice (Mus  musculus domesticus).

April 2003. Research visit at Biodiversity Group, Charles University, Prague (group of Prof. Dr. Pavel Stopka). Training in the analysis of Major Urinary Proteins in house mice.

September 1996 - December 2004: Teaching Assistant, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology-Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (courses: Zoology, Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates; seminars: Zoology and Ethology).

October 1997 - January 2000: Studies at Faculty of Psychology and Science of Education, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania.

October 1996 - June 1997: Master degree obtained at Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology-Geology, Biocenology.

Title of thesis: A field study of the interspecific interactions between Clethrionomys glareolus    and Apodemus sylvaticus.

September 1994 - August 1995: Student Fellowship TEMPUS-(PHARE)-JEP-0716594,    Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique.

September 1991 - June 1996: Graduation in Biology at Faculty of Biology-Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (ranking as first in the 1991-1996 Biology series).

September 1987 - June 1990: School of Arts (painting), Satu-Mare, Romania.

September 1987 - June 1991: High School Studies at "Doamna Stanca", Satu-Mare, Romania (profiles: Biology and Chemistry).

PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS

13^th World Congress of Psychophysiology. 2006. Istanbul, Turkey. Poster presentation: Latent vs. manifest social networks: A psychophysiological and sociometric empirical investigation. Authors: David I. Opris, Alina S. Rusu and Marius I. Benta.

3^rd National Conference of Psychology. 2006. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Oral presentation: How do romanians choose their mates? - An ethological analysis of 'companion' ads. Authors: Alina S. Rusu and Aurora Bencic (Babes-Bolyai University, Romania).

3^rd National Psychological Conference. 2006. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Poster presentation: Sequence Network Analysis: a possible hybrid methodology? Authors: Marius I. Benta (University College Cork, Ireland) and Alina S. Rusu.

XXIX International Ethological Conference. 2005. Budapest, Hungary. Oral presentation. Dispersal, competitive aggression and urinary chemosignals in wild house mouse males. Rusu A.S.

Invited speaker at Evolutionary Ecology Seminar, Institute of Zoology, University of Bern (Group of Michael Taborsky). 2005. Bern, Switzerland. Oral presentation: Dispersal propensity and competitive aggression: Parts of the same story in wild house mouse males (Mus domesticus)?" Rusu A.S.

Brain Awareness Week. 2005. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Oral presentation: The smell of human sexuality: The neurobiology of pheromone-mediated behaviours in humans. Rusu, A.S.

Invited speaker at Konrad Lorenz Institut fur Vergleichende Verhaltensforschung. 2004. Vienna, Austria. Oral presentation: Development of competitive behavioural profiles in wild house mice. Rusu, A.S.

Bio04. Joint Meeting of Swiss Botanical, Mycological and Zoological Societies, Fribourg, Switzerland. 2004. Poster presentation: Individual Major Urinary Protein profiles, agonistic onset and dispersal in maturing male wild house mice. Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S., Koenig, B.

ASAB Summer Meeting. 2003. Grunau, Austria. Oral presentation: Individual MUPs profiles affect the development of competitive behavioural phenotypes in male house mice (Mus domesticus). Rusu, A.S., Jedelsky, P., Krackow, S.

ASAB Summer Meeting. 2003. Grunau, Austria. Poster presentation: Pre-reproductive alliance formation in female house mice: the effects of relatedness, familiarity and MUP (Major Urinary Proteins) profile-sharing. Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S., Koenig, B.

Bio03. Anual Meeting of Swiss Botanical, Mycological and Zoological Societies. 2003. Zurich, Switzerland. Oral presentation: Competition for mates and social cooperation in wild house mouse females (Mus domesticus). Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S.

Workshop on Work in progress - Gender Studies. April 2003. Kompetenzzentrum Gender Studies, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland. Oral presentation: Competition and cooperation in female wild house mice.

4^th International Congress of the Society for Behavioral Ecology. 2002. Montréal, Canada. Poster presentation: Reproductive skew depends on social and kin structure in communally nesting wild house mice. Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S.

1st European Conference on Behavioural Biology, Munster: Conflict and Resolution, Germany. 2002.  Poster presentation: Microsatellites marking agonistic phenotypes in wild house mice. Krackow, S., Rusu, A.S., Koenig, B.

1st European Conference on Behavioural Biology, Munster: Conflict and Resolution, Germany. 2002.  Poster presentation: Reproductive skew mediated by familiarity-based agonistic relationships in communally nesting wild house mice. Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S.

Zurich Interaction Seminar, ETH. 2002. Zurich, Switzerland. Oral presentation: Competition and cooperation in communally breeding wild house mouse females. Rusu, A.S.

Bio02. Joint Meeting of Swiss Botanical, Mycological and Zoological Societies. 2002. Bern, Switzerland. Poster presentation: Do males pacify females in wild house mice? Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S.

Workshop on Self-Organization and Evolution of Social Behaviour. September 2002. Monte Verita, Ascona, Switzerland, Centro Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

27th International Ethological Conference of the International Council of Ethologists and the Ethologische Gesellschaft. 2001. Tuebingen, Germany. Poster presentation: Establishment of dominance and cooperation in female house mice depending on the presence of subordinate males. Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S.

Measuring Behaviour 2000. Nijmegen, Netherland. Poster presentation: Behaviour as a discourse: A structural analysis of the feeding   behaviour of laboratory rat. Rusu, A.S., Benta, I.M.

INDIVIDUAL GRANTS

2003-2004: Competition and cooperation in female wild house mice (Gender Studies Kollegium, ETH, Zurich, Switzewrland, ammount: 4000 CHF).

2005-2007: Psycho-physiological indicators of the development of coping strategies and adaptive behavioural phenotypes in wild and captive mammals (CEEX 2005, Excellence research grant for researchers reintegration, ammount: 106040 RON).

PUBLICATION RECORD

Published

Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S., Jedelsky, P.L., Stopka, P., Koenig, B. (submitted). MUP patterns of excretion differentiate the agonistic profiles in wild house mouse males (Mus domesticus).

Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S. (2005). Agonistic onset reflects dispersal propensity and emotional changes in maturing male wild house mice (Mus domesticus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 119: 58-66.

Rusu, A.S., Krackow, S. (2004). Kin-preferential cooperation, dominance-dependent reproductive skew, and competition for mates in communally nesting female house mice. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 56: 298-305.

Rusu, A.S., Koenig, B., Krackow, S. (2004). Pre-reproductive alliance formation in female wild house mice (Mus domesticus): the effects of familiarity and age-disparity. Acta Ethologica, 6: 53-58.

Rusu, A.S. (2004). From Biochemistry to Behaviour: An Integrative Approach of Major Urinary Protein (MUP) Roles in the Sociobiology of House Mice. Cognition, Brain and Behavior, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, VII, 1: 21-36.

Rusu, A.S. (1999). Neurobiological Models of Accessory Olfactory Memory. Cognition, Brain and Behavior, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Special Issue: Neuroscience, III, 4: 381-389

Rusu, A.S., Benta, I.M. (1999). Sequential Analysis of Feeding Behaviour of the Laboratory Rat. Annals of Western University Timisoara, Romania. 2: 81-94.

Rusu, A.S. (1998). Study of interspecific relationships in field between Clethrionomys glareolus (Rodentia, Cricetidae) and Apodemus sylvaticus (Rodentia, Muridae). Acta Oecologica, Sibiu, 1-2: 5-14.

Books

Rusu A.S. (editor). Studying communication in animals. ASCR, Cluj-Napoca, ISBN 973-7973-23-2, 152 pages.

Rusu A.S. Development of competitive behavioural profiles in wild house mice (Mus domesticus). PhD Thesis. ASCR, Cluj-Napoca, ISBN 973-7973-13-5, 100 pages.

LANGUAGE RECORD

                                                Conversation                Reading                        Writing

Romanian                            Fluent                           Fluent                           Fluent

English                                 Fluent                           Fluent                           Fluent

French                                 Medium                        Fluent                           Medium

     German                               Poor                             Medium                        Poor