Jupiter, FL (March 15, 2011) – Students at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University are encouraged to begin research early in their academic careers. Rita Pruzansky, a junior at the Wilkes Honors College, is pursuing a concentration in psychology with a particular interest in child psychology and developmental studies. Pruzansky became involved in researching language acquisition in young children, and began to study how preschoolers use recently-acquired nouns. Her study, however, would require funding in order to be performed successfully.

           Dr. Julie Earles, an associate professor of psychology at the Honors College, worked very closely with Pruzansky as she developed her research proposal. When the problem of funding arose, Dr. Earles informed Pruzansky of undergraduate grant opportunities offered by Florida Atlantic University and helped her to apply. Shortly thereafter Pruzansky was awarded one of these grants that will allow her to purchase research materials to be used in her study as well as by future students.

           With the funding she has received, Pruzanksy plans to acquire software that will help her create visual research aids to use as she studies preschoolers. The software will help her determine how young children apply a newly-learned verb in a series of novel situations. “I’m presenting the students with claymation sequences of creatures performing different actions and then seeing whether they will recognize that the action can be applied to more than one object,” says Pruzansky. “It’s going to be really fun to design these creatures and bring them to life using the software.”

           Pruzansky is most excited about the valuable experience she will gain in working with children on the project. She feels fortunate that she will have the opportunity to conduct this research as an undergraduate, since this type of opportunity usually comes far later in one’s educational program. Pruzansky will be working at the Slattery Development Center on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus and is looking forward to studying the results of her experimentation. She hopes that her study will contribute to the scientific community and help begin other psychological studies with language acquisition.

           Pruzansky plans to graduate from the Honors College and attend graduate school, where she will pursue a degree in developmental psychology. She says that the faculty and staff of the Honors College have been instrumental in preparing her to achieve her academic goals. She states that, “The faculty at the Honors College has been so helpful because everyone here wants you to succeed. They have a connection with each and every one of the students and will do whatever they can to help.” Pruzansky remarked that professors have gone out of their way to help her make the deadlines for internships and have presented her with academic challenges that have developed her research and writing skills. She feels ready to begin her research and knows that she is fully supported by her professors.

           Pruzansky says that the most rewarding aspect of her grant experience has not been the funding itself, but rather the respect and support she has received from the university. For her, the knowledge that the results of her study are valuable to the academic community is very encouraging. She says, “It’s rewarding to know that the university values the research I’m doing, and that they found it important enough to fund.”

byline: WHC Student Intern Megan Geiger