SPUR Participants and Mentors Describe Their Experiences

This summer, four undergraduates packed their bags and moved across the country (and, for one student, around the world) to spend eight weeks working hands-on in a lab that corresponded to their research interests. These students, Roxie Chuang, Deanna Ibrahim, Maria Escobar, and Precious Hardy, participated in SPSP’s new Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). SPUR is an intensive internship experience for undergraduates from under-represented ethnic groups.

Roxie’s SPUR Experience: Building Professional Relationships

Roxie was not the only one enthusiastic about the professional relationships formed during SPUR. Dr. Kim noted, “The greatest advantage of hosting a SPUR participant in my lab was to really get to know a truly fantastic student. Once we had our first meeting, it became clear that Roxie is a really gifted student and we have a compatible working style. I found a great student whom I would like to recruit to our graduate program.”

Mr. Eom also appreciated the professional connection he formed with Roxie while serving as her SPUR graduate student mentor. He commented, “Working with such a smart and talented student was a great opportunity for me, too. These students are potentially my colleagues in the future. I found that being a mentor for SPUR is like an opportunity to develop a social and professional relationship with another researcher who can prosper in my field in the very near future.”

Deanna’s SPUR Experience: Getting Into the Lab as Much as Possible

Dr. Van Bavel agreed that Deanna took away a lot of hands-on experience from the summer. He stated, “Having an excellent student who is around every day allows for a depth of involvement that is next to impossible for a volunteer research assistant. I think our SPUR student learned a lot about experimental design including designing of materials, how to pilot studies, and how to run an organized experiment.”

Deanna’s graduate student mentor, William Brady, also spoke highly of Deanna’s level of involvement, both in the lab and in a research reading group. He remarked, “My student was a top-quality research assistant who aided in experiments, and was also a participant in a bi-weekly reading group that helped me stay on top of the literature in my area of study over the summer. We had a good working relationship and we decided to continue to work together through the fall as she applies to graduate programs in social psychology.”

Maria’s SPUR Experience: Becoming an Active Participant in Meetings and Projects

Maria said of these meetings, “I left eager and encouraged to contribute to the growing field of research. Dr. Cara MacInnis helped reassure me of the power and importance of scientific findings. Going to these meetings, hearing about relevant studies, and discussing the findings were definitely the highlight of SPUR for me.”

Dr. MacInnis praised Maria’s contributions at these meetings, which included providing a presentation relating to her upcoming thesis work. From her perspective as a mentor, there were additional advantages to hosting a SPUR student in her lab. She observed, “It can be difficult to find dedicated research assistants during the summer months, so having her in the lab was a great asset. [Maria] collected, re-coded, and scored data, handled the administration of an online study, organized data output into easily readable tables, and created surveys for upcoming studies using online survey software.”

Precious’s SPUR Experience: Being Open, Asking Questions, and Enjoying Stimulating Discussions

Precious’s advice for future SPUR participants is, “You should be a sponge soaking up information when you need to, you should be willing to learn new things, take constructive criticism, and grow from it. Offer what you have to offer. It is not expected of you to know everything and you are there to learn so don’t feel bad if you don’t have all the answers.”

Dr. Gardner, who hosted students from multiple summer programs, remarked that Precious “came in with a wealth of background and interest in social psychology.  Thus, she was eager to read relevant journal articles, could contribute to developing a coding scheme for the data we collected, and in all other ways could jump right into the work we were doing this summer. She was also just a dream to host in the lab -conscientious, smart, and a delight to be around.”

Participants, mentors, and graduate student mentors all offered positive, enthusiastic feedback about taking part in SPUR. The professional relationships, learning and collaboration opportunities, and advancement of research provided by the program make it a truly unique experience.