For Students
Are you an undergraduate student at UD looking to get involved in research?
Like many research labs, we function best with a diverse team of faculty, staff, post-docs, grad students, and undergrads. Here are some of the opportunities that may be available to our Research Assistants (RAs):
- Learn about experimental treatments for children with language impairments
- Learn transcription, data entry, and coding skills
- Learn how to administer a variety of standardized tests
- Work hands-on with children — both with and without language impairments
- Bolster your résumé — especially if you plan on going to graduate school or applying for a job in research or clinical practice
- Earn a recommendation letter — RAs who excel may ask Dr. Owen Van Horne or other senior lab members for letters
- Get course credit — you must discuss this with Dr. Owen Van Horne before the semester begins
- Get paid! — dedicated RAs may receive pay for certain projects during certain times of year
Requirements:
1. Availability
You must be available for labwork at least 10 hours/week. Depending on the tasks we assign you, these hours may be very strict or somewhat flexible. We understand that hours will change semester to semester. However, missing agreed-upon lab hours, scheduled meetings, and recruiting events will not be tolerated.
2. Long-Term Commitment
You must commit to at least 2 semesters in one year (Spring+Summer, Spring+Fall, or Summer+Fall). Working with us requires a substantial amount of training, which requires a substantial amount of time. This is essential for you to get the most you can out of this experience and for us to get the most we can out of our time investment in training you. We hope you will love working with us and that you will want to stay even longer!
3. GPA
You must have a GPA greater than 3.4 to be a research assistant in our lab. We feel that students with a GPA lower than 3.4 will likely not have enough time to dedicate to labwork and schoolwork. If you plan on applying to graduate programs, bear in mind that most programs will consider your GPA before anything else. Research experience will not matter if your GPA is too low!
4. Coursework
Some labwork requires knowledge of phonetics, morphology, and/or syntax. For this reason, we give preference to applicants who have taken courses on these topics. If you aren’t sure whether your coursework is sufficient, please contact us to discuss the details. Our staffing needs change every semester, and there are some jobs in the lab that do not require prior linguistics knowledge.