Summer Undergraduate Research Program

• Resume.
• Personal statement.
• Unofficial transcript.
• Two letters of recommendation.

• Secondary essays.
• Recorded interview.
• Possible interview with Project Lead (Zoom or in-person).

• Applications open: Nov. 1.
• Applications close: Feb. 1 at 11:59 pm CST.
• Secondary essay and interview prompts/instructions sent out by Feb. 5.
• Secondary essays due by the third Monday in February.
• Project Lead interviews will vary.
• Final decisions will be communicated no later than Apr. 15.

• Department: iCASD, Autism Care for Toddlers Clinics
• Project Lead: Dr. Halbur and Dr. Carroll

MMI's integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders' Autism Care for Toddlers Clinics are community outreach programs. The clinics provide early intervention services using applied behavior analysis to children 2 to 6 years old. The research team investigates components of early behavioral intervention and treatment team member (i.e., caregiver, staff) involvement in behavior analytic service delivery. The SURP summer intern will assist with ongoing projects including data collection, graphing and analyzing data and preparing for sessions.

• Department: iCASD, Autism Diagnostic Clinic
• Project Leads: Dr. Phipps, Dr. Zematic, Dr. Courson

Students working within MMI's integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders will assist with an FDA clinical trial evaluating the use of a device to diagnose autism spectrum disorder in young children. Roles will primarily involve supporting the consenting process, as well as data checking and entry. We have some additional projects that may be in data collection at this time, including a measurement validation study and a study about delivering diagnostic feedback to families. Students will get to attend research meetings and get more in-depth exposure to research in clinical settings.

• Research Program: Emotional Neuroscience Research Lab
• Project Lead: Dr. Blackford

The Emotional Neuroscience Lab (Blackford Lab) focuses on anxiety and how it relates to an extension of the amygdala, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The SURP summer intern will be helping with neuroimaging studies involving adults with an alcohol use disorder or adolescents with autism. Additionally, students can participate in analyzing data from studies of anxiety or alcohol use disorder.

• Department: iCASD, Building Relationships in Dyad and Group Environments Program
• Project Lead: Dr. Connolly

MMI's integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders' Building Relationships in Dyad and Group Environments Program offers specially designed small group intervention for children with autism aimed at promoting skills necessary for positive peer interactions and social play, social communication skills, and classroom readiness. The SURP summer intern will receive training and mentorship from a clinical psychologist in applied research opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of group-based behavior analytic interventions.

• Department: iCASD, Early Intervention Program
• Project Lead: Dr. Rey

MMI's integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders provides comprehensive treatment services for children with autism spectrum disorder. The SURP summer intern will help Dr. Rey with evaluating the effectiveness of efficiency of interventions for teaching children with autism.

• Department: iCASD
• Project Lead: Dr. Shillingsburg

Our team’s research interests focus on early identification and diagnosis for autism and promoting meaningful skill development through focused interventions for individuals with autism and their families. Our projects investigate the acquisition of verbal behavior, problem-solving, effective instructional design, caregiver and staff training, and dissemination of evidence-based practices. Additional areas of interest include the use of technology (eye tracking, virtual reality, high-tech speech-generating devices) to improve assessment and intervention.

• Department: integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Project Lead: Dr. Agana

Our research team in the LEAP Lab investigates the development of play and language skills in early childhood for children with autism spectrum disorder. We aim to better understand how behavioral and developmental strategies can be applied to support meaningful learning and social engagement for young autistic children. The SURP summer intern will assist with data collection during child-participant sessions or video observations, coding and organizing behavioral data, conducting literature reviews, and participating in lab meetings.

• Department: Physical Therapy, Play Lab
• Project Lead: Dr. Cunha

The Play lab focuses on designing and testing play-based interventions and technologies to improve function, activity and participation in children with motor delays. The SURP summer intern will help with understanding and implementing the use of modified ride-on toy cars in children’s environment.

• Department: Severe Behavior Disorders
• Project Leads: Dr. Fahmie

The severe behavior department is recruiting an undergraduate student to assist on several ongoing studies related to the assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The research assistant will gain hands-on and supervised experience conducting literature reviews, collecting real-time and retrospective behavioral data, making graphs, analyzing data, and participating in a weekly research lab meeting.

• Department: Speech-Language Pathology
• Project Leads: Dr. Gormley

In the speech-language pathology department, the SURP student will assist with several ongoing studies related to the development and evaluation of augmentative and alternative tools and trainings for children and adults who have limited speech. Studies include investigating the effects of "just-in-time" augmentative and alternative communication trainings on parent and healthcare provider communication skills while interacting with people with limited speech. The student will gain hands-on and supervised experiences with data collection and analysis in clinical environments such as outpatient and inpatient hospital settings.