Undergrad RAs

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As of October 2024, I will not be accepting new undergrad RAs for the foreseeable future. I'll update this status notification whenever that changes. If you are interested in research experience related to youth and mental health, I recommend looking into RA opportunities with other USU faculty in the School Psychology Program.

I usually have 2–4 research assistants (RAs) working with my lab at any given time. Most of our RA positions are volunteer-based. And most of our RAs are undergrad students at USU who are majoring or minoring in psychology. However, we are open to RAs from other programs, other universities, and community agencies. 

Being an RA is a good way to figure out if you actually like research. It's also a surefire way to strengthen your application for grad school in psychology and mental health fields. RA work provides opportunities to collaborate with grad students and to get an insider's look into the ins-and-outs of grad school.

RAs are assigned to work on specific projects and are typically trained and supervised by my grad students. I provide secondary supervision on these projects. I’m also happy to meet with RAs to provide mentoring around grad school and career options.

Common research activities for RAs include school-based observations and data collection, literature reviews, and article coding for systematic reviews. Most RAs end up helping out with our grad students' dissertation projects.

Here’s an eligibility checklist for folks interested in becoming RAs with our lab: 

  • Are you interested in learning more about youth mental health assessment?
  • Are you thinking about pursuing grad studies in a mental health related field?
  • Are you majoring or minoring in psychology as an undergrad?
  • Do you have at least a 3.0 overall undergrad GPA?
  • Are you willing to spend at least one full academic year (or 2 semesters) working with our lab as an RA?
  • Are you willing to commit at least 5 hours per week to RA work?

If you can answer “Yes” to each of these questions, then feel free to send me an email to express your interest in being an RA with our lab. I'll reply and let you know about availability and next steps.