Canine Science Collaboratory (Wynne)

Lab Director and Principal Investigator

Clive Wynne

Dr. Clive Wynne is Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and Director of Research at Wolf Park, Indiana. He was educated at University College London and Edinburgh University in Scotland and has studied animal behavior in Britain, Germany, the U.S. and Australia in species ranging from pigeons to dunnarts (a mouse-sized marsupial). Several years ago he founded the Canine Cognition and Behavior Lab dedicated to the study of dogs and their wild relatives. As well as numerous scientific papers, he has also written for Psychology Today, American Scientist, the New York Times, and other outlets. He is often quoted in print media and radio, and his science has been featured on several TV shows such as National Geographic, Nova ScienceNow and others. He is the author of a textbook Animal Cognition now in a new edition, and former editor in chief of the journal Behavioural Processes. His most recent book is Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2020). 

Visit Clive Wynne's website

Postdoctoral associate

Lindsay Palmer

Dr. Lindsay Palmer is a social psychologist with dual PhDs in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Social Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. Her graduate research focused on intergroup relations, including issues related to prejudice and stereotyping. Building on this foundation, she now examines the human-animal bond and interactions—a lifelong passion. She is currently investigating how people perceive animals and the factors that shape human–animal relationships, particularly with dogs. She was a scholar at the Human-Animal Studies Summer Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she further developed her work on the human–animal bond. Her research bridges social psychology and human-animal studies to better understand how social and psychological mechanisms influence interactions across species.

Graduate students

Remy Frost

Remy Frost comes to the Canine Science Collaboratory with a BA in Sociology and Classics from the University of New Hampshire. Prior to joining the Canine Science Collaboratory, he managed the Computational Cognitive Development Lab & Brown Dog Lab (PI: Dr. Daphna Buchsbaum) at Brown University, and spent several years working with companion animals as both a volunteer and staff member at the Massachusetts SPCA. As a graduate student, Remy uses methods and theoretical frameworks from applied behavior analysis, evolutionary biology, and the social sciences to address practical issues in the domain of human-animal interaction. He is particularly interested in intra- and interspecies social behavior, including play, learning, and affect contagion; critical evaluation of dog training methods; animal shelter welfare and outcomes; and social dynamics of free-ranging dogs and wild canids.

Sophia Ruppel

Sophia Ruppel graduated from Carroll University in 2025 with a double major in Animal Behavior and Psychology and where her passion for understanding animal minds took root. Originally from Wisconsin, Sophia moved to Arizona to continue her education and expand her research experience. Her background spans a diverse range of species and methodologies, including fieldwork with conservation detection dogs, omission contingency paradigms in rats, cognitive map exploration in amphipods, and training dogs in partnership with HAWS Humane Society. Her current research focuses on the critical period in domesticated dogs and how experiences during this stage influence social development and later behavior.