Are you currently accepting students?
- I am accepting research assistants.
What kind of research do you do?
- See this page for a description of the lab research.
Why should I be an RA?
- You get hands-on experience with research, i.e., you get a better idea where all those facts in your textbooks came from.
- If you’re interested in going to graduate school, an RA position provides both valuable research experience and an early indication of whether a particular field/topic is right for you.
- You get to work closely with a faculty member, a relatively rare experience in a large school.
- The faculty member will be in a very good position to write you a personalized letter of recommendation.
- It looks good on your resume.
Should I join this lab?
- If you are interested in the research and meet the criteria listed below, yes!
- If it’s not a good fit, I can help point you to another faculty member that might be better aligned with your goals.
What will I be expected to do?
- Minimum:
- Attend and participate in a weekly lab meeting. Lab meetings are Thursdays from 3:40-5.
- Present a primary research article of your choice to the lab group.
- Recruit participants.
- Run experiments. You will be trained to run (minimum):
- Computer-based experiments.
- Eye-tracking experiments.
- Code data.
- Work from 3-9 hours a week in the lab (depending on the number of credits you signed up for). Some weeks will be much slower than others. This is an upper bound.
- For the motivated:
- Help with experiment design.
- Help with experiment implementation.
- Help with data analysis.
- Training with other experimental paradigms.
When should I join?
- It’s never to early.
- You can join any time, up to the first semester of your last year.
- At least a 1-year commitment is typically best for everyone concerned.
What experience should I have?
- No experience necessary. You will get all the needed training.
- Statistics, methods, and cognitive psychology are, however, helpful.
How can I get more information?
- Email is the best way to contact me.
I’m interested, how do I sign up?
- Send me an email stating your interest.
- We’ll correspond a bit over email to make sure there is a good match.
- Then we’ll meet in person.
- The paperwork is typically completed the first week of the semester. All of the paperwork is listed on this page.
- Most RAs sign up for 398B.
What about independent projects and honors?
- Most students who sign up for an independent project (496A) or an honors project (499) have been in the lab for at least a year.
- Exceptions are possible, but rare.