Undergraduate research opportunities

Each semester, we normally have a few Research Assistant (RA) positions open. Typically, these are year-long, either volunteer or for-credit, and require a commitment of 10 hours/week. These positions go very quickly, so it is very important that you apply early, preferably at the end of the academic year prior to the one you'd like to work in.

What do RAs do?

RAs get the opportunity to help out on everything from the design of a study to the gathering of materials to the running of the experiment and the analysis of the data. Additionally, RAs have the opportunity (and are expected) to attend a weekly or bi-weekly lab meeting, where we discuss both practical and theoretical issues related to the research.

For questions about the research or RA opportunities, contact jaswal@virginia.edu

What qualities are we looking for in our research assistants?

Friendly. If you are an RA in the Child Language and Learning Lab, chances are, you will interact with children and their parents. It is therefore crucial that you are friendly (hopefully you are anyway!) and that you enjoy being around children between the ages of 0 and 5 years. It’s OK if you don’t have much experience with this age group at this point, so long as you are interested in gaining that experience.

Meticulous. Many of our studies involve very subtle manipulations. For example, in one recent study, we manipulated whether children heard an object introduced as “the blicket” or “a blicket.” The only difference was the determiner in front of the nonsense word! RAs running this study had to be extremely vigilant that they were using the correct wording.

Conscientious. For many of our studies, we ask families to bring their children to the lab. We meet them in the parking lot, and escort them to the lab. If you are scheduled to be this greeter on a particular study, then you must be there early! We do not want to risk alienating any of our families who are volunteering their time.

Curious. Although you’ll start out working on well-defined tasks on already established projects, we expect you will contribute your own ideas, and that you will take the initiative to learn about the broad issues we are investigating.

Why would someone want to be an RA?

Getting involved in research can be one of the most fulfilling aspects of your undergraduate career, and we urge you to get involved with a lab as soon as you find a topic that interests you. It will give you in-depth experience on a particular topic, train you in how science is done, and help to prepare you for graduate, professional, or medical school. Many RAs have gone on to do Distinguished Majors Projects in the lab in their fourth year, several are co-authors on presentations and published papers. It’s also fun, and can really make you feel like you’re part of a community.

Are RAs expected to have any coursework?

Ideally, you will have taken Intro, as well as Developmental. But if you have not taken these courses and really want to get involved in this research, email Prof. Jaswal and try to convince him.

OK, I’d like to apply. What should I do?

Undergraduate RA positions for Academic Year 2012-2013 have been filled. An on-line application for RAs for Summer 2013 and/or Academic Year 2013-2014 is available here. We expect that interviews will be held and positions filled by mid-March 2013. Please explore the website before applying. For questions about the research, contact Prof. Jaswal at jaswal@virginia.edu.