Undergrads Share Their Summer Research Experiences, Part 2

This is a continuation of an article from last month shining the spotlight on some amazing undergraduate research assistants working in labs this summer!

Nneka Nwabueze

Nneka Nwabueze is an undergraduate (2021) majoring in psychology at Duke University. This summer, she is taking part in Duke's Vertical Integration Program (VIP) for summer research and is currently working in Dr. Sarah Gaither's Identity and Diversity Lab.

Why did you want to work as a research assistant this summer (or be a part of your respective internship program)?

My goal was to learn more about psychology and to be able to completely immerse myself in the environment.  

What drew you to working in your current lab?

Dr. Gaither guest lectured during my Psych 101 class, and she completely captivated me. At first, her being biracial was a shocker, but then I realized that it was what fueled her work. Dr. Gaither showed us one of the most interesting interactions in which priming someone's biracial identity completely changed how they acted. The Identity and Diversity Lab is based on making people uncomfortable in the attempt to understand why.

What kinds of work have you been doing this summer/are going to be doing?

This summer I'm working with children between the ages of 4 and 6 to develop an idea of when children create perceptions about different races and genders. Specifically, I'll be developing this through a seating distance task in which children get to choose where they want to sit, in relation to another child. For this, we're measuring the comfort levels that these children face while interacting with other kids of different races and genders.

What have you've learned so far from your summer experience and what do you hope to learn or gain?

So far, I've learned that the saying that children really are sponges (in regard to absorbing information) is definitely true. Most children create ideas and perceptions based on their interactions and things that they see throughout their daily lives. I think it's interesting to watch children have preferences, yet not really know that they do.

During this summer, I hope to gain a better knowledge of how perceptions are created and why they are formed.

Has your summer RA experience contributed to your interest in psychology research?

It definitely has. I realized that research can be fun and engaging, and creates positive long-term outcomes and effects.

Sam Arnold

Sam Arnold is an undergraduate (2019) majoring in psychology with a concentration in research at William Peace University. This summer he is working as a research assistant in Dr. Sarah Gaither's Identity and Diversity Lab at Duke.

Why did you want to work as a research assistant this summer (or be a part of your respective internship program)?

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to pursue a position as a research assistant this summer. First, William Peace requires all students to complete an internship before they graduate. Second, because I'm interested in pursuing social psychology research as a career, obtaining experience in a prestigious lab such as the Duke ID lab is both a unique and valuable opportunity.

What drew you to working in your current lab?

I've always had a general interest in biracial identity, the conceptualizations of race, and racial prejudice. So, when I came across Dr. Gaither's lab during my search for research assistant positions, it was essentially a perfect fit.

What kinds of work have you been doing this summer/are going to be doing?

A typical day in the Duke ID lab consists of recruiting potential participants by calling or sending emails, running various experiments, creating specific animated faces using a program called FaceGen, coding various studies, and other miscellaneous tasks as they come up.

What have you've learned so far from your summer experience and what do you hope to learn or gain?

One thing I learned from working in this lab is that I may want to pursue this type of research in the future. The factors of race and how we as a society conceptualize biracial individuals are intriguing to the extent that I may wish to help contribute to this research on my own.

From this research assistant role, I hope to gain some basic knowledge about the inner workings of such a highly active lab, as well as gain generalizable lab experience that will certainly be beneficial for me in the future. Additionally, I wish to gain a better understanding of the research and literature surrounding biracial categorizations and identity.

Has your summer RA experience contributed to your interest in psychology research?

This experience has both validated and confirmed my interest in psychology.  Moreover, this experience has reinforced my ambitions of pursuing social psychology research as a career in the future.

Tanner Young

Tanner Young is an undergraduate (2020) majoring in psychology at the University of The Ozarks. This summer he is working as a research assistant in Dr. Makeba Wilbourn's Infant Lab at Duke.

Why did you want to work as a research assistant this summer (or be a part of your respective internship program)?

I felt that I wanted to work in a research lab this summer because of my love for psychology. I thought it would be the perfect experience to lead me into graduate school, as well as give me the exposure I needed to confirm my love for research. I feel that I can use the tools and knowledge I've gained to possibly go back and share with those from my home campus who want to research in the field of psychology.

What drew you to working in your current lab?

I can't say there is anything that drew me into the WILD lab because I came in blind, yet open-minded. I saw the research that was being conducted about socio-economic status and realized it was something I grew up being curious about. At a young age, being exposed to a lot of Hispanic culture, I was curious about other cultures, their traditions, and more than anything how these identities come into play cognitively.

What kinds of work have you been doing this summer/ are going to be doing?

Our lab is collectively gathering data on parental interactions with mother-child dyads. What identifiers are these children using to non-verbally communicate with their mothers and which responses are most effective in the child's language development?

I am interested in examining the effects of non-verbal communication and perceptions during cross-racial interactions. Through a literature review, I noticed the relation between an individual's racial identity and means of gesturing while speaking. I am fascinated by how gestures, being a universal form of communication that transcends language and culture, can be perceived in many different ways such as threatening and/or inviting.

What have you've learned so far from your summer experience and what do you hope to learn or gain?

I've learned so much within this first half of the internship. The lab has exposed me to the routine of conducting research, how to manipulate data, and most of all how to effectively refine a research question through a literature review. Outside of the lab itself, I have been taught how to make connections within academic environments and how to go about applying for graduate school while standing out in my application. This experience has taught me so much as to what goes on behind the scenes within a research lab and what to look for in other labs when looking for the next one.

Has your summer RA experience contributed to your interest in psychology research?

When I came into this internship I had mixed feelings about developmental psychology, I was unsure about working with babies. I was unsure about even studying the development of innate human processes. Once I got here and I saw how the process works, how a lab runs, what a day in the life is like, it was apparent I was meant to be here. Throughout this process I researched many different professors, read their publications, met with them and asked questions that helped me decide if this is really what I'm passionate about.

There are two individuals in particular who have influenced my research interests. First was Vice Provost of Undergraduate Research Dr. Gary Bennett. Dr. Bennett was kind enough to treat us to breakfast one morning and spoke a little bit about some of his research in public health and obesity. The following week we attended a talk by Dr. Timothy Strauman, professor of psychology and neuroscience. Dr. Strauman spoke to us about his experience in clinical psychology as well as his research on depression, mental health, and public health. I took my love for exercise and physical well-being, and the speculations from Dr. Bennett and Dr. Strauman, to incorporate mental and public health into that. I intend to study kinesiology, exercise, and their relation to mental health/cognitive processes.