Throughout my graduate training, I have sought out opportunities to mentor undergraduate students in the research process. I have participated in several organized mentorship programs, as well as given talks to undergraduate programs on professional development topics (e.g., research paths in psychology, how to collaborate with a mentor).
See some highlights from these experiences below!
See some highlights from these experiences below!
As part of the Psychology Undergraduate Mentorship Program (PUMP) at UT Austin, I mentored an undergraduate student (Maheshwari Rajesh) completing an independent research project. We leveraged a publicly accessible dataset of conversations between strangers and used text analysis software to examine whether bringing up risky conversation topics (e.g., politics, religion) relates to heightened perceptions of shared reality. We found that certain risky topics, including politics and religion, significantly related to a conversation partner's greater shared reality. We also found that partners higher in trait openness reported significantly greater shared reality when mental health and anxiety were discussed. Maheshwari presented her research at the PUMP poster session and did an amazing job!
As part of the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) at UT Austin, I mentored a cohort of 5 undergraduate students collecting data for their first-ever research project. These students not only showcased their knowledge of the research process in a stellar presentation at the URAP symposium, but they prepared a video for the Texas Student Research Showdown to communicate their work to a broader audience. They were awarded an honorable mention in the Showdown-- check out their awesome work here!