Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate Research Program

The Munroe-Meyer Institute (MMI) Undergraduate Research Program offers a wide range of opportunities for undergraduate students to become a member of one of our many research teams. We are looking for applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences and interests who want to be part of an inclusive and cooperative research environment. The available volunteer opportunities are listed below for the Fall/Spring semesters. Visit the Summer Undergraduate Research Program for summer opportunities.

Typically, students will spend the first semester getting exposure to their lab, reading relevant papers, shadowing study visits and performing entry-level tasks in the lab. In the second semester, students will have the opportunity to spend more time in the lab and become more involved in projects. Following the first year, students will be eligible to have a research experience or project for credit.

• Resume/CV
• Lab(s) of interest
• Half-page personal statement that describes why you are interested in research training experience, especially related to the labs you are interested in.
• Anticipated availability (note: all programs will require availability during regular work hours)

Program: Play Lab

• Department: Physical Therapy
• Project Lead: Dr. Andrea Baraldi Cunha
• Project Description: Our projects focus on designing and testing play-based interventions and technologies to improve function, activity, and participation in children with motor delays. Our team's current project aims to identify real-world tracking and barriers to the usage of modified ride-on toy cars in children with mobility delays. We are also working to evaluate intervention measures of a virtual reality program based on Hand Arm Bimanual Intensive Training (HABIT).
• Description of activities/ experience:
  • We are seeking undergraduate research assistants to engage in a variety of research activities, including coding behavioral data from videos, digitally gathering scientific articles and processing data.
  • The benefits of the position include working with a team of physical therapists and engineers to learn more about how to design interventions and devices for children with disabilities scientifically.
• Preferred Skills: No prior experience with these tasks is required, as training will be provided.
• Weekly Commitment: 4-8 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  • Babik I, Cunha A.B., Lobo MA (2019). Play with objects in children with arthrogryposis: effects of intervention with the Playskin Lift™ exoskeletal garment. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part C, Seminars in Medical Genetics. 181(3):393-403.
  • Gehringer JE, Fortin E, Surkar SM, Hao J, Pleiss M, Jensen-Willett S. Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Training in Virtual Reality: A Feasibility Study. Pediatr Phys Ther. 2023;35(1):85-91.
  • Logan SW, Hospodar CM, Bogart KR, Catena MA, Feldner HA, Fitzgerald J, Schaffer S, Sloane B, Phelps B, Phelps J, Smart WD. Real World Tracking of Modified Ride-On Car Usage in Young Children With Disabilities. J Mot Learn Dev. 2019 Dec;7(3):336-53.
  • Orlando, J., Cunha, A. B., Alghamdi, Z. S., & Lobo, M. A. (2023). How do parents and early intervention professionals utilize educational resources about infant development and play? Early Human Development, 180, 105763.

Program: Virtual Reality Lab

• Department: Physical Therapy
• Project Lead: Dr. James Gehringer
• Project Description: Our team is building virtual reality simulators to enable people with disabilities to practice skills that are difficult to practice in the real world. These software programs simulate activities of daily living, like getting your hair cut or crossing the street, and enable our clinical teams to control the difficulty of the task. Students can get hands on experience developing virtual reality simulations, assessing skill learning, 3D motion capture, or psychology and behavioral analysis. Students would have the opportunity to learn about assistive technology, simulation design, skill learning, physiological data recordings, clinical data recording, and data processing. Students can pick a subset of these skills and tasks that fit their area of interest; they are not expected to cover all topics.
• Preferred Interests or Skills: Computer programming, 3D modelling, 3D motion capture, computer engineering, psychology and behavioral analysis.
• Weekly Commitment: 5-8 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  •  Clay CJ, Schmitz BA, Balakrishnan B, Hopfenblatt JP, Evans A, Kahng S. Feasibility of virtual reality behavior skills training for preservice clinicians. J Appl Behav Anal. 2021 Apr;54(2):547-565. doi: 10.1002/jaba.809. Epub 2021 Jan 22. PMID: 33482023.
  • Mesa-Gresa P, Gil-Gómez H, Lozano-Quilis JA, Gil-Gómez JA. Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review. Sensors (Basel). 2018 Aug 1;18(8):2486. doi: 10.3390/s18082486. PMID: 30071588; PMCID: PMC6111797.

Program: Virtual Reality Lab

• Department: Severe Behavior
• Project Leads: Dr. James Gehringer and Dr. Amanda Zangrillo
• Project Description: Our team is investigating several questions related to machine learning and recognition of challenging behavior in children and adolescents. These machine learning algorithms have the potential to automate the data collection systems that are typically used in the clinical setting. Students interested in developing machine learning algorithms or behavioral analysis would be a good fit. Students would have an opportunity to learn a clinically-focus research.
• Preferred Skills: Research assistants will review videos of assessment and treatment sessions and code the presence of challenging behavior.
• Weekly Commitment: 5-8 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  • Goodwin MS, Mazefsky CA, Ioannidis S, Erdogmus D, Siegel M. Predicting aggression to others in youth with autism using a wearable biosensor. Autism Res. 2019 Aug;12(8):1286-1296. doi: 10.1002/aur.2151. Epub 2019 Jun 21. PMID: 31225952; PMCID: PMC6988899.
  • Arce, W.S., Walker, S.G., Hurtz, M.L. et al. cometrics: A New Software Tool for Behavior-analytic Clinicians and Machine Learning Researchers. Behav Analysis Practice (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-023-00817-w

Program: ACT/ACTION Clinics

• Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
• Project Leads: Dr. Mary Halbur and Dr. Regina Carroll
• Project Description: Various projects are conducted across the two clinics and descriptions of each can be provided if the student has interest. Our team conducts research and clinical work on improving the efficacy and efficiency of instruction for young children with autism spectrum disorders. Some of our current work includes investigating variables that impact behavior analytic skill acquisition including early communication skills, assigning stimuli to sets for training, and teaching acceptance with health and self-care routines. We also investigate treatment team member (i.e., caregiver, teachers, staff, community member) involvement in behavior analytic service delivery for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and the treatment integrity of the inventions provided.
• Student Responsibilities: contribute to ongoing behavior analytic research, quality improvement, and case studies including collecting interobserver agreement and treatment fidelity data, preparing materials including data sheets, contributing to literature reviews, attending project meetings, and disseminating research findings. Students will learn about behavior analytic research, data collection, and professional skills. 
• Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  
  • Halbur, M., Preas, E., Carroll, R., Judkins, M., Rey, C., & Crawford, M. (2023). A comparison of fixed and repetitive models to teach object imitation to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 56(3), 674-686.https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.993
  • Preas, E., Carroll, R. A., Van Den Elzen, G., Halbur, M., & Harper, M. (2023). Evaluating the use of video modeling with voiceover instructions to train therapists to deliver caregiver training through telehealth. Behavior Modification, 47(2), 402-431.https://doi.org/10.1177/014544552211119

Program: Early Intervention

• Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)
• Project Lead: Dr. Catalina Rey
• Project Description: Our team conducts research and clinical work on improving the efficacy and efficiency of instruction for children with autism spectrum disorders. Some of our current work includes investigating variables that impact behavior analytic skill acquisition including early listener discrimination skills and communication of preferences. Descriptions of each project can be provided if a student has interest. Research assistants will learn to run research sessions with participants, read research papers, collect data, and graph data.
• Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  
  • Rey, C. N., Kurti, A. N., Badger, G. J., Cohen, A. H., & Heil, S. H. (2019). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy support: Comparing behavior analysts’ views about drug addiction and mental illness. Behavior Analysis in Practice,12(4), 758-766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00345-6
  • Rey, C. N., Betz, A. M., Sleiman, A. A., Kuroda, T., & Podlesnik, C. A. (2020). Adventitious reinforcement during long-duration DRO exposure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 53(3), 1674-1687. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.697
  • Halbur, M., Preas, E., Carroll, R., Judkins, M., Rey, C., Crawford, M., (in press). A comparison of fixed and repetitive models to teach object imitation to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.993

Program: Severe Behavior

• Project Lead: Dr. Tara Fahmie
• Project Description: Our team is identifying the most efficient, safe and trauma-informed ways to assess and treat severe behaviors like aggression, self-injury, and property destruction. Participants in our research are individuals ages 3-19 with intellectual and developmental disabilities who display severe behaviors in home, school and/or the community.
• Preferred Skills: Strong communication skills, ability to observe severe behavior live or via video with a neutral reaction, maintain patient confidentiality, openness to learning data collection and graphing techniques, interest in learning about the assessment and treatment process (hands-on clinical-research training available if interested), collaborative.
• Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
• What Students Will Do: Undergraduate research assistants will be involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of behavioral research in the Severe Behavior Department. Specifically, research assistants may complete literature reviews, provide feedback on research protocols, assist with IRB applications, collect data in-vivo or via video recording of behavioral sessions, graph data, and assist in presenting studies at conferences if interested.
• What Students Will Learn: Students will have the opportunity to directly observe top-quality behavioral services for severe behavior disorders. Students will learn critical skills for future clinical and research experiences, such as design of clinical interventions and data analysis.
• Relevant Papers:
  • Fahmie, T. A., Rodriguez, N. M., Luczynski, K. C., Rahaman, J. A., Charles, B. M., & Zangrillo, A. N. (2023). Toward an explicit technology of ecological validity. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 56(2), 302-322.
  • Melanson, I. J., & Fahmie, T. A. (2023). Functional analysis of problem behavior: A 40‐year review. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 56(2), 262-281.
  • Gatzunis, K. S., Weiss, M. J., Ala’i-Rosales, S., Fahmie, T. A., & Syed, N. Y. (2023). Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Functional Assessment Interviewing, Cultural Responsiveness, and Empathic and Compassionate Care to Students of Applied Behavior Analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1-27.

Program: Emotional Neuroscience Research Lab

• Project Lead: Dr. Jennifer Blackford
• Project Description: The projects in our lab investigate anxiety, behaviors, and brain networks that lead to the development or maintenance of anxiety. Our studies are investigating anxiety networks in youth, and also focus on anxiety in the context of alcohol use disorders. We use a variety of methods, including clinical phenotyping, behavioral measures, physiological measures and neuroimaging methods (brain function and connectivity).
• Preferred Interests or Skills: Preferred interests are: neuroscience, psychology, psychiatric disorders and neuroimaging. Preferred skills include experience with children and adults, especially with mental health issues, coding/programming, and neuroimaging.
• What Students Will Do: Initially students will get exposure to multiple parts of our studies including data entry, recruitment, and collecting data. With additional experience students may have the opportunity to collect data at the scanner and analyze data.
• Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours
• Relevant Papers:
  • Flook EA, Feola B, Benningfield MM, Silveri MM, Winder DG, Blackford JU. Alterations in BNST Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Early Abstinence from Alcohol Use Disorder. Alcohol Alcohol. 2023 May 9;58(3):298-307. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agad006. PMID: 36847484; PMCID: PMC10168710.
  • Feola B, Melancon SNT, Clauss JA, Noall MP, Mgboh A, Flook EA, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala responses to unpredictable threat in children. Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Dec;63(8):e22206. doi: 10.1002/dev.22206. PMID: 34813095; PMCID: PMC8849085.
  • Clauss JA, Avery SN, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Social anxiety is associated with BNST response to unpredictability. Depress Anxiety. 2019 Aug;36(8):666-675. doi: 10.1002/da.22891. Epub 2019 Apr 6. PMID: 30953446; PMCID: PMC6679811.
  • Avery SN, Clauss JA, Blackford JU. The Human BNST: Functional Role in Anxiety and Addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016 Jan;41(1):126-41. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.185. Epub 2015 Jun 24. PMID: 26105138; PMCID: PMC4677124.
  • Clauss JA, Seay AL, VanDerKlok RM, Avery SN, Cao A, Cowan RL, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Structural and functional bases of inhibited temperament. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Dec;9(12):2049-58. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu019. Epub 2014 Feb 3. PMID: 24493850; PMCID: PMC4249486.