Research Internships
REMINDER: the Reducing Disparities in Child Welfare scholarship can be used at any location
Parent-Child Dynamics Lab
What the study is about:
In Dr. Erika Lunkenheimer's Parent-Child Dynamics Lab, we study the ways that parenting and parent-child interaction patterns influence child development. We use dynamic time series analysis to examine how parents and children coordinate their emotions, behaviors, and physiology, and how this coordination is related to the development of children's self-regulation and behavior problems in school. We also examine how parent-child interaction patterns relate to resilience and risk in the family, such as risk for child maltreatment, and how a better understanding of these patterns can inform the development and improvement of preventive interventions for stressed and overburdened families. Undergraduate Research Assistants will work both independently and as a team to support a broad range of research efforts, such as data collection, processing, and analysis.
How you can become involved:
Potential responsibilities include project preparation, recruiting families for research involvement, conducting study visits, coding behavior and affect in videotaped parent-child interaction tasks, entering questionnaire data, and/or processing physiological (breathing and heart rate) data. Training is provided. Undergraduate Research Assistants attend a regular group meeting which includes professional development topics, presentation of lab research, and discussion of relevant literature.
Application Process:
If you are an undergraduate student who is looking for research experience, the PCD lab may be a good fit if you are interested in gaining research skills in parent-child relationships and developmental psychopathology. To be eligible, students must have a 3.4 GPA or better and be able to commit to a minimum of 6 hours per week during the semester and/or the summer, for at least two semesters. In addition, students must be able to attend a weekly meeting with their supervisor. Students must be highly responsible, reliable, motivated, and dedicated to conducting accurate and high quality work. Good attention to detail and the ability to carefully follow directions (e.g., complicated protocols for data collection) are also important. Finally, it is important to have the capacity to work independently (while having the judgment to know when to ask for assistance).
Please complete the online application available on this website.
PAIR (Preschooler's Adjustment and Intergenerational Risk)
Dr. Yo Jackson's lab is looking to recruit undergraduate research assistants to learn and do behavioral coding using videos of parent-child dyads. The lab is interested in identifying patterns of risk and resilience for youth exposed to adversity.
Who should apply:
Motivated, detail-oriented students looking for research experience in a clinical child psychology lab; Interest in behavioral coding or heart rate analyses; students aiming to apply to graduate school
How to apply:
Complete an application by clicking here.
If you have further questions, feel free to contact Sara Such at szs6886@psu.edu
Undergraduate Research Assistantship Application (doc)
The Child Health Study (CHS), Center for Healthy Children
What the study is about:
The primary purpose of the CHS is to learn more about the different ways in which the environment and biology can affect a child’s health. The information we learn will help us to understand more about children, adolescents and their families. We are looking at the ways in which children and young adults have different life experiences based on the different environments they live in and how these experiences shape development.
How you can become involved:
Research assistant applicants must be self-motivated and reliable. Research assistants will help with data collection, data entry, and coding. Additionally, the assistants will interact with the child and the caregiver on various levels on the day of the visit, including administration of questionnaires on an iPad and paper measures. Research assistants must be available a few Saturdays per semester for visits. Research assistants must be able to be at the center by 7:30 am on days of scheduled visits.
Eligible undergraduates interested in also gaining medically relevant experience with respect to processing, storing, and transporting biological samples (specifically, blood, urine, saliva), can receive training on these processes as well.
What you need to do to become involved:
Due to the complexity and nature of the study, all members of the research team are required to complete a number of training sessions and clearances and must be able to make a two-semester commitment of 9 hours a week to the study. That includes the following training sessions:
- CITI Program Training Course - Protection of Human Research Participants, Social, and Behavioral Human Subject Research Course
- Biosafety 101 (through EHS)
- Blood borne Pathogens (through EHS)
- Initial Laboratory & Research Safety Training - University Park (through EHS)
- Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse
And the following clearances/background checks:
Why become involved:
- Independent research credit
- Valuable, cutting-edge research experience
- Opportunity for a senior honors thesis (based on thesis requirements)
- CMAS and BBH Internship placement (based on internship requirements)
Application Process:
Complete the Undergraduate Research Assistantship application (https://urfm.psu.edu/resources/opportunities/child-health-study-0) by the following deadlines: March 1 for Summer; May 1 for Fall; October 1 for Spring