Directed Independent Research

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Psychology has a strong scientific emphasis that encompasses traditional areas of psychology including cognitive psychology, neuroscience and behavior, social/personality psychology and developmental psychology. Students are strongly encouraged to become involved in research.

In order to satisfy the laboratory requirement, psychology students have the option to enroll in three credits of Directed Independent Research (DIR) PSY 4915 (graded) or PSY 4916 (pass/fail). It is recommended you meet with an academic advisor to discuss the enrolling in DIR.

When pursuing research through a DIR, you will work alongside faculty, getting hands-on experience in a fully functioning lab. To begin Directed Independent Research, you must find a faculty member from the Department of Psychology who is accepting undergraduate students into their lab.

Psychology Faculty Areas of Emphasis

Gizelle Anzures, Ph.D.  ganzures@fau.edu Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, development of visual & social cognition, functional brain development.

Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D.  elan.barenholtz@fau.edu  Behavioral & computational approaches to perception, learning, & decision making using embedded deep neural networks & robotic models of behavior. Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Terrence Barnhardt, Ph.D. tbarnhardt@fau.edu Cognitive neuroscience of memory for words, memory for brand-name products, and the effects of emotion on learning.

David Bjorklund, Ph.D.  dbjorklu@fau.edu Children’s cognitive development and evolutionary developmental psychology.

Benjamin Hadden, Ph.D.  bhadden@fau.edu Social psychology of romantic relationship development, including motivation, attachment, and readiness for relationships.

Erika Hoff, Ph.D.  ehoff@fau.edu Bilingual development, language and literacy growth in Spanish-English bilinguals. (Davie)

Sang Wook Hong, Ph.D. shong6@fau.edu Visual Perception and Cognition: Color Vision, Motion Vision, Visual Awareness, Inhibitory Processing, Emotional Processing.

Nancy Aaron Jones, Ph.D. njones@fau.edu Infant and child emotions and developmental neuroscience linked to risk and resilience during early experiences. (Jupiter)

Alan Kersten, Ph.D.  akersten@fau.edu Language development, eyewitness memory for events and event categorization.

Brett Laursen, Ph.D.  laursen@fau.edu Friendship and romantic relationships during childhood and adolescence and their influence on individual social and academic adjustment. (Davie)

Michael Maniaci, Ph.D.  mmaniaci@fau.edu Close relationships, social support, and interpersonal attraction.

Andrzej Nowak, Ph.D.  nowak@fau.edu Social/Personality, computational and neural network modeling of social behavior.

Monica Rosselli, Ph.D.  mrossell@fau.edu Neuropsychology of normal and abnormal aging, bilingualism and cognitive reserve. (Davie)

Robert Stackman, Ph.D.  rstackma@fau.edu Neurobiology of long-term memory, in vivo neurophysiology of spatial navigation. (Jupiter)

Robin Vallacher, Ph.D., Interim Department Chair  vallache@fau.edu Social/personality psychology; computational models of personal, interpersonal, and societal dynamics.

Carmen Varela, Ph.D.  varelac@fau.edu Neural basis of learning and memory; extracellular electrophysiology in behaving rodents; thalamic circuits in cognitive function.

Geoffrey Wetherell, Ph.D. gwetherell@fau.edu Social/personality psychology, stereotypes and prejudice, value and worldview conflict, moral psychology.

Teresa Wilcox, Ph.D., Interim Dean  wilcoxt@fau.edu Infant perception and cognition; functional organization of the infant brain; early knowledge of mechanical and social entities.

How to Start Directed Independent Research

Once you find a faculty member with a research area that is of interest, write that faculty member a professional email explaining your interest in completing a DIR with them. Begin by introducing yourself, state why you are interested in working in their lab and ask permission to enroll in DIR credits with them.

You will then set up a day and time to meet and discuss options, schedule and availability, and possible responsibilities. Please note that some faculty may have specific course prerequisites that must be completed before beginning DIR in their labs.

If the faculty member agrees to allow you to perform DIR under their supervision, the faculty member will give you approval in FAU’s banner system. Then, you will go into your self-service account and register for the course as you would any other. In banner, you will need to set the number of credits that you plan to register for.

From there, you will coordinate with the faculty member on when and where to show up for your first day!

Contact

For more information, contact Lori McKee (mckeel@fau.edu) and Lauren Mavica (lkogelsc@fau.edu).