Student Research

An important feature of the Psychology department is its focus on conducting scientific research. Students can contribute to an ongoing faculty research project or design and conduct a research project of their own, supervised by a faculty member. Undergraduates can participate by enrolling in an Independent Study (PSYC 499).

Students who contribute to an ongoing project gain research experience through readings, assisting in study design, creating study materials, testing research participants, and through contributing to the study analysis, interpretation and reporting. Many students gain authorship on conference presentations or even journal articles or book chapters.

Students who conduct projects of their own receive one-on-one mentoring from a faculty member on the project design, data analysis, and reporting of the results. Students have also presented the results of their supervised research at conferences ranging from regional undergraduate research meetings to international scholarly conferences.

Students who are interested in pursuing a graduate education are urged to enroll in one or more Independent Study projects with faculty members. (Find out more about faculty research and psychology labs by clicking on the links below.)

Prerequisites for PSYC 499 vary by faculty member, but generally PSYC 300 is required. The expectation is that for each credit, a student should spend about 3 hours working on the Independent Study project.