Undergrad RAs

I usually have 2–4 undergraduate research assistants (RAs) working with my School Mental Health Lab at any given time. Being an RA is a good way to figure out what you might be interested in doing post-undergrad. It's also a surefire way to strengthen your application for grad school in psychology and mental health fields. Maybe most importantly, being an RA gives you opportunities to hang out with grad students and get an insider's look into the reality of grad school.

RA Basics

Most of my undergrad RA positions are volunteer-based. RAs are assigned to work on specific projects and are typically trained and supervised by my grad students. I provide secondary supervision to ensure everything goes well. 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 my grad students' current dissertation projects.

RA Eligibility Checklist

If you are interested in an RA position with my lab, then ask yourself these several questions:

• Am I interested in learning more about school or youth mental health?
• Am I thinking about graduate studies in a mental health related field (e.g., school, counseling, or clinical psychology; social work; school or mental health counseling)?
• Am I majoring or minoring in psychology at USU?
• Do I have at least a 3.0 overall undergrad GPA?
• Do I have at least one full academic year (or 2 semesters) left prior to graduating?
• Am I willing to commit at least 5 hours per week to research activities?
• Am I willing to be an undergrad RA for at least 2 semesters?

If you answer yes to all of these questions, then feel free to send me an email to express your interest. I'll reply and let you know about availability and next steps. As a heads up: sometimes I reply slowly, as it can take me a couple weeks to gauge the need for new RAs.