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Supervised Research
The course entitled Supervised Research has been designed to provide experience in research design and methodology.
It consists of group and individual components.
In the individual component, students work on projects associated with the research of a particular faculty member.
Sometimes they spend more than one semester involved in the same project, and sometimes they enroll for a second or third semester to work in different labs.
This course also sets the stage for some students to conduct their own thesis research, in collaboration with a faculty member.
Summer Research Opportunities
(written by Ashley Bangert '99 and Stephanie Lee '99)
Involvement in research over the summer or at any point in your undergraduate education is a worthwhile venture on your part.
If you are interested in graduate school, research experiences can only strengthen your application.
You may even find that some research opportunities will allow you to work with professors who are foremost researchers in their field!
So, how can you find out about these opportunities?
- Check the bulletin boards in the Psychology department.
The board that you see as soon as you walk out of the main stairwell (Opportunities/Announcements Board) displays information about psychology-related internships and opportunities.
Anytime an announcement about research opportunities is received by the department, it is posted on one of these boards.
Looking at this information is a great way to start finding out about available research opportunities, and looking at posted notices from last year will help you get an idea of what programs might still be available to you this year.
When you explore the web sites for these research locations, you can often find links to other web pages that give you information about other places offering research.
- Talk to your professors!
They have lots of information about what programs offer quality research, and they may have connections with the university or with a professor with whom you want to do research.
Check with your advisor and another professor in the department whose topic of research interests you; they may have some leads on research opportunities you don't know about.
Also, be sure to talk to your advisor about how you might get research credit here for the work you do over the summer.
You may be able to get a few more credit hours for your Psychology major this way!
- Use the Internet!
One particularly helpful site is that of the National Science Foundation.
Every year the NSF sponsors many Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, approximately 5 of which are Psychology related.
Go directly to www.nsf.gov to get to the NSF web page.
From there you can do a search for Research Experiences for Undergraduates to find a listing of the REU programs for the coming summer.
You'll want to search the list of programs under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research heading as well as under Biological Sciences to find research opportunities in various areas of psychology.
The list of programs includes the name of the contact person along with that person's e-mail address.
You will need to contact each program you are interested in to request an application packet.
You should begin making your requests early, because most program deadlines occur in early February and March.
The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University also sponsors a summer research program.
Its web site, www.cnbc.cmu.edu, describes how to apply to its program.
This is a highly selective program, but worth applying for!
You can also use the Internet to look up colleges and universities near the location where you plan to spend the summer.
Contact professors whose research looks interesting to see if they have any research positions open over the summer.
Even if you find a position that doesn't pay, it may be still be well worth the experience.
Any research you can get is helpful towards building a good record for your graduate school applications.
- General Tips
Don't hesitate to keep in close contact with program directors.
If you find a program you are really interested in, but you have a slight time conflict with its program dates, don't be afraid to apply.
Just contact the program director to ask whether the time conflict will be a problem.
Generally, he or she will still encourage you to submit your application.
If accepted to the program, you may be able to determine a way to work around the time problem.
Some programs don't have their applications ready until pretty late in the game.
If you are curious about the application process or anything else, keep in touch with the program contact and let him or her know you are still interested.
[Faculty note: Be careful not to annoy with too-frequent contact.]
Be sure that, if you do get accepted to a program, you are clear about your travel arrangements.
Even if you do receive a stipend for the research, you may have to pay for your own travel to the program.
Some programs will subsidize the travel for you, but others will not.
Be sure to check with the program director to find out what travel arrangements you will have to make.
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