PSYX 290 & 390
Listed below are the psychology faculty members who accept students to work on research projects in their labs. Please note that, since these are “apprenticeship” courses in research psychology, it is necessary that the projects be those which the professors are specially qualified to handle. The present list is not exhaustive, but will give students a clear indication of the research areas in which the professors are interested and are focusing their research, specifically. Students should keep in mind that the work undertaken by professors for the PSYX 290 and 390 courses is in addition to the professors’ normal teaching assignments, and students are expected to join research labs with enthusiasm, ideas, a desire to learn, and sense of responsibility. PSYX 120 is not a prerequisite for PSYX 290 or 390.
Credit Guideline
- 1 credit = approximately 3 hours of lab work per week
- 2 credits = 6 hours of lab work per week
- 3 credits = 9 hours of lab work per week
If you are interested in getting in supervised research, please contact the faculty member directly via email. Each faculty member has a different process (e.g., some have an application). Please email the faculty member, introduce yourself and ask whether the faculty member is currently taking undergraduate research assistants in his or her lab.
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Will work with selected students. Projects will depend on current opportunities.
- School-based crisis prevention and intervention
- International school psychology
- Bereavement in school-age children
- Resilience in school-age children
Dr. Jacqueline Brown's webpage
Dr. Brown is on sabbatical for the 2024-2025 academic year
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- Barriers to depression care: Stigma and depression treatment; stigma activation as a result of specific treatment modalities (medication v. psychotherapy); attitudes and beliefs about depression and depression treatment options
- Primary Care-Mental Health Integration efforts; health psychology; the healthcare system
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Will work with selected students. Please contact Dr. Cochran for research lab application.
- Sexual minority (LGBT) mental health
- Gender Diversity
- Substance abuse and dependence
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Will work with selected students.
- Mathematical psychology; statistics; data analysis; statistical and methodological consulting; statistical software; calculus; algebra; linear and matrix algebra; differential equations; philosophy of science; history of statistics and mathematics; decision analysis; psychometrics; elementary real analysis; quantitative problem-solving; legal statistics; medical/health statistics
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Will work with selected students.
See for current information about research topics
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Will work with 3-5 students. For more information visit the .
- Culturally responsive social-emotional learning in schools
- Culturally responsive assessment practices to support children
- Association between bilingualism and mental health in children and adolescents
- Best practices for supporting school belonging among minoritized children and adolescents
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Will work with selected students.
- Human cognition: priming effects, learning strategies and memory, confidence (over and under confidence), judgments and decision making (heuristics), emotion and cognition, etc.; and applying cognitive science to education
- Helping to run various cognitive psychology experiments
- Learning how to design, develop, and conduct your "own" experiments if interested - full support will be offered to the student researchers
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Will work with selected students.
- Positive behavior supports in schools
- Judgments of responsibility in cases of chronic peer harassment/bullying
- Bully prevention efforts in public schools
- Social determinants of bullying behavior
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Will work with selected students
- Risk and protective mechanisms for disordered eating, including the role of weight-based stigma
- Development and evaluation of eating disorder interventions, predictors of treatment outcomes, and increasing the uptake of treatment
- Strengths-based interventions
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Will work with selected students. For more information, please see Dr. Olomi's webpage
- Systemic responses to gender-based and family violence
- Parenting and child outcomes in the context of intimate partner violence
- Understanding of dynamics of abuse in the context of intimate partner violence and system involvement
- Risk recognition and response to prevent sexual assault
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Dr. Hillary Powell (SB 362) CLINICAL -Will work with selected students.For more information, please see Dr. Powell’s faculty page
- The mental health impacts of LGBTQ minority stress and structural stigma across the lifespan
- Centering understudied LGBTQ populations in psychological research (such as Two Spirit individuals, asexual spectrum folks, and children of queer/trans parents)
- Promoting gender- and queer-affirming healthcare, particularly in rural areas
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Will work with selected students. Two-semester minimum commitment and 3.0 minimum GPA. Please visit the MINDS Lab website for more information. Click on “People” then "Join the Lab" to apply.
1. Anthropomorphism: Attributions of minds, internal states, and other animate characteristics to inanimate entities (e.g., nature and technologies)
2. Social perspective taking: Selective social learning, perspective taking biases/limitations
3. Environmental moral reasoning: Development of moral conceptions of the natural world
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Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology
See Dr. Sun to apply to work in her lab; register through the Psychology Department, PSYX 290/390
- Examine how emergent leadership naturally evolves in children's collaborative learning and facilitates the group's argumentation and problem-solving
- Examine what individual characteristics, social factors (e.g., peer relationships), and contexts (instructional approaches, culture) impact children's school engagement
- Cross-cultural examination of American and Chinese children's social and emotional development in collaborative learning, and teachers' struggles and growth in scaffolding dialogic-rich discussions.
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Will work with up to 8 students.
- Investigation of psychopharmacological effects of serotonin activation on choice behavior in Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish)
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Will work with selected students
- Trauma (perpetrator trauma, interpersonal trauma, symbolic trauma)
- Existential theories of meaning-making
- Mixed methods
- Statistical modeling