Undergraduate research assistants (RA) are an important part of our lab, and we hope that the experience is mutually beneficial. Especially for students who want to pursue graduate training, volunteering in a research lab can be a key stepping stone to gain exposure to the research process, develop your own research ideas, and demonstrate a commitment to the field before diving further into it. For many graduate programs, prior research experience is required.
If you are interested in being an RA in my lab, we require a minimum commitment of 3 hours per week, but prefer a 5 – 10 hour commitment over the course of two semesters. You do not need to be a current student to volunteer in the lab; we have worked with people who have already graduated and are interested in gaining additional research experience before applying to graduate school.
In the M-PHAB Lab, undergraduate RAs are involved in a number of tasks across our projects. Typically, this may include some data entry, initial data cleaning, and helping with literature reviews for broader M-PHAB studies and for graduate students’ individual projects. For students who are more actively engaged, you may have the chance to participate in more advanced tasks such as being involved in developing studies, data analysis, manuscript writing, presentations, and independent projects. RAs should make every effort to attend bi-weekly lab meetings (scheduled at the start of each semester based on members’ availability) – these meetings are critical for keeping up to date on projects, responding to study needs as they emerge, and fostering supportive and collegial relationships among the lab.
If after reading this description and reading more about the research we conduct in our lab, you are still interested in becoming an RA, you should email me (ladamse at gmu dot edu) and include:
- Basic information about yourself (e.g., name, major, year, GPA, etc)
- A description of what research you are interested in and your (tentative!) career plans
- A brief paragraph on why you are applying to work with me
- A copy of your CV or resume
If there are openings in my lab, I will likely reach out to schedule a meeting to learn more about you.