Summer Research Institute During COVID-19
Scientific research and summer in the city? Count me in! After declaring a major in psychology my sophomore year at Barnard, I knew that Barnard’s Summer Research Institute was an opportunity I could not miss. I spent my first two summers in college exploring other areas of interest through internships, so this summer I wanted to dedicate my time to psychology research. Not only would SRI give me the experience necessary to find research positions post-graduation, but it also allowed me to spend my summer doing something I love (with the bonus of being paid for it).
Finding a Research Position
To be transparent, finding a research position in the middle of a global pandemic was not the easiest task. However, all of my professors, including those outside of the psychology department, were more than happy to offer their assistance in finding a position. Because of this, I felt confident that I would find research for SRI along the way, and I was so happy when I finally found a lab position working with one of my favorite professors! After taking a fantastic seminar called Social Interaction in the spring with Katherine Thorson, I reached out to see if Professor Thorson had any suggestions in finding a lab position. In the end, it turned out that she had space in her own lab for the summer, and I would get to be hands on doing some social psychology research that I was just reading about in class - full circle moment for sure.
Research Experience
I am so grateful for the skills I gained this summer as a lab assistant. The majority of my work was online due to the nature of our lab’s current online study, but I spent lots of time completing my work in the Social Interaction Lab on campus that is full of desktops with a beautiful view. Professor Thorson really allowed me to take responsibility in the lab, giving me the opportunity to learn more about what it means to be a researcher. I was able to see how my personal work translated to the lab’s research as a whole which was incredibly rewarding. I spent time creating ads for study recruitment, scheduling participants for an ongoing online study, running studies between two participants on Zoom, analyzing data for my poster presentation and more.
The experience I gained in SRI allowed me to land a volunteer internship at a psychology lab at Mount Sinai, as well as the chance to continue working with Professor Thorson throughout my senior year. And finally, on top of all of the amazing research experience, I got to spend summer in NYC. Sunny days in the park with my puppy, hunting for the best ice cream in the city, and grabbing brunch with friends truly can’t be beat!