Undergraduate students
Each semester, undergraduate students have the opportunity to earn academic credit working in our Lab. This is an opportunity to learn about research firsthand. Students gather data, code behaviors, and analyze results in our on-going research. Advanced students may have the opportunity to do a distinguished majors project.
As an undergraduate research student, you may expect:
- Ten hours per week of work in the Lab. This commitment includes time spent recruiting families, working with child research participants, coding videos, and attending Lab meetings. There is also a 2-credit-hour option with a 7-hour Lab commitment. Students may repeat the course over several semesters for additional experience and credit. Advanced students may have the opportunity to conduct research as part of the Department of Psychology's Distinguished Majors Program.
- A weekly meeting with the Early Development Lab team. Our weekly meetings are a chance to get to know the others in the Lab and exchange notes on our individual progress. We gain an understanding of how each person's work fits into the overall project and have a chance to raise specific questions about our work. We also talk about practical aspects of research design in developmental psychology.
- Work with advanced graduate students. Each research project in the Lab is primarily identified with one of the graduate students. Over the course of the semester, undergraduate assistants will have the opportunity to work closely with one student and also to have an overview of all the research projects associates with the Early Development Lab.
- Experience with one or more behavioral coding schemes. We videotape short experimental sessions with our participants, then code for specific behaviors of interest. Each student becomes a specialist in at least one coding scheme and is exposed to several others over the course of a semester.
- Meet some of the cutest babies in town! Our participants are young children, typically between the ages of 2 and 10. Research assistants are trained to work directly with the children, taking them through our research studies.
If you are interested in working in our lab, please submit an application.
Prospective graduate students
If you are interested in coming to UVa for graduate school, please review the laboratory's
current research interests and those of others in the
department to be sure that you think it is a good fit with your interests. Most years Dr.
Lillard is open to taking a new student whose interests align well with those of the Lab.
The program includes 2 years of semi-structured coursework, a second-year project
that is the equivalent of a Master's thesis, and an expectation of participation in
research and publication throughout 4-6 years of graduate work. Every area in the
department has a weekly research-oriented brown-bag lunch, and most labs have active
laboratory meetings. The Department has great strengths in Developmental Psychology in
all areas, leading to its consistently high rankings in surveys of Developmental PhD
programs.
The University of Virginia guarantees several years of funding for
students who work 10-12 hours a week teaching. It is recommended that all students teach
for 4 semesters, for experience.
For further information, please visit the Developmental
Psychology website or contact Dr. Lillard
directly.
Summer internship program
Click here for more information on our summer internship program for undergraduate students.