Psychological Science Program Research Opportunities for Students 

At USF-St. Petersburg, research opportunities outside the classroom are available to motivated undergraduate psychology majors from their freshman year forward.   Our students are currently collaborating with faculty on various projects, on topics as diverse as: severe behavior disorders in children, children coping with HIV, early family adjustment, social perception and judgment, and the interaction between vision and hearing.

Important News for You:

Faculty Seeking Research Assistants!

If you're interested in being a research assistant, here are the current openings for research assistants (this semester and next) with both Psychology and Social Work professors.

Dr. Vikki Gaskin-Butler is seeking research assistants interested in the psychology of women. Dr. Gaskin-Butler's research focuses on the spiritual, physical, psychological, and social well-being of women. Research assistants will be expected to assist with website development, study protocol development, literature searches, IRB submissions and/or additional lab activities. Please contact Dr. Gaskin-Butler via phone or email at (727) 873-4778 or vgaskinb@mail.usf.edu.

Dr. Michiko Otsuki Clutter needs 2 or 3 Research Assistants to begin work in January 2011 for Suncoast Youth and Family Health Laboratory. The lab is engaged in psychosocial studies of lung health, including pediatric asthma and smoking among ethnic minority and non-minority youths and families. If you are interested in health/pediatric psychology, or other health-related disciplines (e.g., medicine, nursing, public health), this would be an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on research experience. The RAs will be responsible for assisting in: study protocol development, IRB submission, recruitment of participants, interviews and surveys, literature search, data entry, and reference management. A thesis or conference presentation opportunities and community outreach through the Suncoast Pediatric Asthma Coalition may also be available depending upon your interests. A minimum of one-year commitment with a weekly lab hours of 8-10 hours/week is required (occasionally in the evening and on weekends). The student may elect to obtain Directed Study credit after the first semester, or arrange to get paid through Federal Work-Study program. To apply for this position, the student must have minimal overall GPA of 3.2 and completed PSY3213 (Research Methods in Psychology) with a minimum grade of B+. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Clutter at motsuki@mail.usf.edu.

Psychology Labs and Research Groups

All of your psychology faculty have their own research programs underway. If you would like to learn more about our research programs, you can contact us directly or read more in the links below.

To learn more about Dr. Durand's research on severe behavior problems in children, please go here. 

To learn more about Dr. McHale's research in family psychology at USF-St. Petersburg's Family Study Center, please go here.

USFSP student and post-doctoral researchers involved with Dr. McHale's "Families through Time" study: FRONT ROW: Dr. Donna Elliston, Crystal Cummins, Autumn Soyka, Aldjenatu Romero; MIDDLE ROW: Symphony Thomas; Meredith Machler; BACK ROW: Traci Landers; Kyle DePalma; Chris Scull; Jessica Thompson.

To learn more about Dr. Pezzo's research in social perception please go here www.stpt.usf.edu/pezzo

USFSP students Tina Gonzalez and Symphony Thomas presenting research conducted with Dr. Pezzo, at the 2004 Tomorrow's Leaders Symposium

To learn more about Dr. Chenneville's research in the area of pediatric HIV, please e-mail her at chennevi@mail.usf.edu.