PI name: Charles Scherbaum, Ph.D. Title of Project: Basic and Applied Dimensions of Scientific Psychology: Research Experience for Undergraduates at Baruch College CUNY
The REU site at Baruch College will offer advanced research training for one academic year to 12 undergraduate students who attend educational institutions in the New York metropolitan area. The program will target students of historically disadvantaged groups. Training opportunities will be in the areas of social psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, developmental psychology, cross-cultural psychology, psychometrics, sleep, and clinical psychology. This program provides concentrated research experience in which each student plans and executes an independent project, as well as works with a faculty mentor on existing research projects. Students will develop knowledge and skills in all phases of psychological research, including hypothesis development, research design, data analysis, and scientific writing. Students will present their research at the Baruch REU conference and potentially at national or regional conferences in psychology. Noteworthy projects may be submitted to journals. REU students will also complete a series of structured learning activities and workshops aimed at preparing them to gain entry into to graduate school and to pursue professional careers in psychology. The broader goal of this program is to prepare talented undergraduate students for careers in scientific psychology. Specifically, the program will: 1) prepare students for advanced graduate training in psychology and ultimately for careers in academic and applied settings, 2) identify and attract early promising minority, disabled, first generation and economically disadvantaged students throughout the New York metropolitan area to the field of psychology, 3) increase psychological scientists' exposure to cultural and minority issues in psychological research, and 4) develop a pipeline to provide a pool of talented and diverse students to become the research scientists of the future.
