Being Involved In Research
There are many opportunities for students to participate in research within the Psychology Department and throughout Columbia University, including, but not limited to, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Teachers College Columbia, Columbia School of Social Work. There are also opportunities to participate in research in one of the many other excellent research institutions in the greater New York City area, including Mt. Sinai, Rockefeller, Weill Cornell, and NYU,
Whether you’re interested in working with human subjects for developmental research, or using animal models to study neuropsychopharmacology, or using imaging techniques, such as fMRI or EEG, to learn more about memory and decision making there are certain to be laboratories at Columbia and elsewhere where you can become involved.
Participating in research allows you to hone your problem-solving skills and challenge yourself in new ways- making it an important experience if you're thinking about applying to graduate school in Psychology, Neuroscience, or related fields. Joining a lab allows you to see how research projects are conducted. Depending on the lab, you may also see how projects are developed, how data is analyzed, and how presentations are put together for conferences and publications. If you are involved in a lab for the long term, you may even contribute to a project that enables you to be a published researcher yourself.
Research in the Psychology department
Undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students are welcome to participate in research opportunities within the Department of Psychology. Students may volunteer to work in a lab, opt for work-study, register for supervised individual research for credit (UN3950 Supervised Individual Research), or participate in the department’s two-year Honors Program. Information on faculty research is available here on the departmental website.
Students are advised to read about research laboratories on faculty lab sites and contact the principal investigators (faculty members) or lab managers to discuss opportunities. At the beginning of the fall term, the department also hosts a Lab Preview event for students to learn about research opportunities for the upcoming semester. Your program advisors can also help you identify labs you might be interested in and advise you on ways to find research opportunities.
For additional information about current and past research opportunities within our department and at other institutions, check out our weekly department newsletters.
What Does Getting Involved Look Like?
- Volunteer – Many students volunteer in research labs. Some labs require that students volunteer for a period of time before becoming more “official” members of the lab. 2)
- Register for Supervised Individual Research (PSYC 3950) – Many students register for supervised research. You may register for up to 4 points of supervised research per term. In general, you should figure that you will be working in a lab for approximately 3 hours per week per credit. This is not set in stone and must be negotiated with the specific lab that you will be working in. Different labs have slightly different requirements. As part of your supervised research, you will be expected to do some independent academic work related to the lab work you are doing. This may be a paper or an oral presentation, depending on the lab.
- Work-study/Paid work – Sometimes labs will hire undergraduates as work-study students to work in their labs. Occasionally non-work study positions are available for students. This must be arranged with a particular lab on an individual basis.
How Can I Get Involved?
To see what labs are doing within and without of our department, check out:
While we do advertise any open positions we hear about in our newsletter and the lab preview is a great way to learn about the different labs affiliated with the psych dept, oftentimes the best way to get involved in a lab is by emailing to express your interest. Your email can be fairly brief and to the point, identifying why you’re specifically interested in that lab, any relevant skills* and coursework, and the kind of commitment you’d be able to dedicate -- and attaching your resume or CV. You might want to email the principal investigator/professor directly, but oftentimes, the best thing to do is to email the lab manager.
*Remember, in most cases, you do not need to have previously worked in lab. You very likely have experience that would serve you well in a lab setting, e.g., strong interpersonal or communication skills, ability to work as a team, project management.
Here are some helpful guides/templates:
How To Identify a Lab That’s a Good Fit
- Before committing to a lab, it's important to determine if the lab is a good fit for you and your needs. You may want to think about the kind of mentorship you'll be provided, the training you'll receive, what they're looking for, and what kind of opportunities for growth there are.
It's important to think about the fit, even over and above your particular research question (for example, that even if the lab is studying something you may not think you want to study long term if it's a place where you'll get great membership, it's worth considering -- the skills you learn in one lab will be transferrable to another).
- Some questions you may ask when during an interview to get a sense of the lab, expectations, and mentorship style:
- How much of a time commitment is expected?
- What projects would I be involved with?
- What do you look for in an ideal undergraduate research assistant?
- What is the lab environment/culture like?
- Is there room for growth in this lab, such as gaining new positions or being assigned to new studies?
- What are the opportunities for pursuing a honors/thesis in the lab?
- Will I have a chance to interact in person with the PI/professor?
- Will there be opportunities to work one-on-one with grad students?
- Will there be opportunities to attend conferences or poster presentations?
- Would it be okay if I also work as an RA in another lab at the same time?
- What have previous undergraduate students gone on to do after leaving the lab?
- Ultimately, if you are offered a position, you may want to speak with other current/former lab members.