PSC 199 for Undergraduate Students
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What is PSC 199? PSC 199 is for undergraduate students who would like to earn upper division course credit while gaining valuable experience in the field of psychology. To learn more about PSC 199, please go here. |
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The role of a research assistant Our undergraduate research assistants work independently as well as with our graduate and/or post-doctoral lab members in all aspects of a research study, from programming experiments to collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. Depending on their level of participation in our laboratory, past RAs have gone on to present posters at conferences and even author peer-reviewed journal articles. A very important role for RAs is running subjects: setting up the testing area, completing the consent form, explaining the task to subjects and debriefing them after the experiment. We may ask an RA to handle participant recruitment through Experimetrix for some studies. Additionally, RAs frequently participate in experiments as subjects themselves. Any programming and general computing experience (especially Matlab, Presentation, C, C++, Java, Excel, etc) would be very valuable, when analyzing and interpreting data from experiments. We encourage students to come prepared to work toward an Honors Thesis. This means that the student completes an Honors Project and an Honors Thesis which may be completed over the course of two quarters. To learn more about the Honors Thesis, go here. |
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What is required of an RA applicant? Diligence and dedication are crucial. Generally, we require a commitment of at least 9 hours per week for at least two quarters, equivalent to 3 units per quarter. A consistent schedule will be established prior to joining the lab. Past or concurrent coursework in PSC 131 (or equivalent relevant experience) is required. General familiarity with Macs and/or PCs, especially Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word), is a must; computer programming experience is a plus. Students will most often be responsible for running subjects and must comfortable working with peers in experiments and have great communication skills. |
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How to get involved If you are interested in becoming an RA for the Whitney Lab please contact our Lab Manager, Nikki (nlwurnitsch@ucdavis.edu), with a resume indicating your GPA, major, relevant coursework, as well as any relevant experience (computer programming, past lab experience, etc.), and a few references. Please include a transcript or CV, if available, your availability and current class schedule. Finally, please briefly explain which aspect of the lab’s research inspired you to apply for this position. |
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