Dr. Shyan-Norwalt received her MS at
the Illinois Institute of Technology in Experimental Psychology, in 1980 and her Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii
in Comparative Cognition, in 1985. In Hawaii she worked on dolphin communication and cognition research at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab. Her Postdoctoral Fellowship was at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, where she worked with Rhesus monkeys on comparative cognition, looking at memory and problem solving skills. She taught for two years at Southwest Texas State
University,and then moved to Butler University
in Indianapolis,
where she taught for 13 years. She taught Learning Theory, Experimental
Psychology, Advanced Research Methodology in Psychology,
Cognition, Intro. Psych, and Honors Seminars in Elephant Natural History.
She sponsored many honors theses and independent studies.
An active researcher, she studies the human-animal bond, cat and dog behavior, monkey-,
dolphin-, and elephant-cognition and behavior, environmental- and social-enrichment, and animal welfare and wellbeing in non-home
environments. She presents research papers and workshops on animal enrichment for shelters and research facilities at national
scientific and professional conferences. She is an invited speaker at research centers and veterinary colleges throughout
the world.
Dr. Shyan-Norwalt has numerous publications in professional
journals, writes behavior problem resolution articles for a cat shelter newsletter, has been interviewed for TV, magazine,
and newspaper, both on the local and national level, has appeared (along with the elephants) in a BBC/PBS Discover documentary
and on three "At The Zoo" syndicated TV shows. (See "Scientific Works" page.)
Dr. Shyan-Norwalt has been certified by the Animal Behavior Society as an Applied
Animal Behaviorist, since 1993, and is an Affiliate Member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. Since 1998,
she has run Companion Animal Problem Solvers, Inc., where she works with owner-clients to resolve pet and companion animal
behavior problems. She has served as a consultant for modifying and designing a no-kill cat shelter.
From 2002-2006, she was the animal behaviorist for the Iams Company, responsible
for animal enrichment and welfare, and for nutrition and behavior research. From 2006-2007, she worked in a similar capacity
for Nestle'/Purina Petcare. In 2007, she decided to return to private practice and to the academic environment. (She now
teaches at Indiana University East in Richmond, Indiana.)
