Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere
About Me
Update: Starting in July 2023 I will be taking on a new role as the Director of Canine Research and Development at Guide Dogs for the Blind.
I am currently the Director of Canine Research and Development at Guide Dogs for the Blind. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor and Director of the Thinking Dog Center at CUNY Hunter College where I focused on studying the behavior and cognition of domestic dogs, canids, and other companion animals.
I am former Co-Director of the ManyDogs Project an international consortium of researchers interested in Canine Science with the primary goal to foster global collaboration and open science practices (i.e., transparency and reproducibility) through multi-site projects.
I began my career at the University of Michigan where I studied the function of the play bow in adult pet dogs throughout my B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience (2013) and M.S. in Biopsychology (2014). In 2019, I earned my PhD in Psychological Science at La Trobe University in Australia under the supervision of Drs. Pauleen Bennett and Philippe Chouinard at the Anthrozoology Research Group. My dissertation focused on evaluating canine visual perception with an emphasis on the research question, are dogs are susceptible to visual illusions?
In 2022, I became a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) awarded by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS), and most recently, I have also been recognized as a Fear Free Certified Professional.
Throughout my career I have worked at various canine cognition and behavior research groups including the Duke Canine Cognition Center, the Clever Dog Lab and the Wolf Science Center.
I have published my research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented findings at conferences, and have been featured on NPRs Science Friday, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, Gizmodo, WIRED Currents, and CuriosityStream.
Want to get in touch?
Interested in getting in touch? Staring a collaboration? Or in need of a guest speaker? Please email me at sebyosiere@gmail.com or contact me using the social media sites below!
