UROP Project | Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement

MODERNIZING & DECENTRALIZING CLINICAL TRIALS WITH AI, DH, & COMMUNITY DRIVEN INNOVATION TO DELIVER BETTER HEALTH FOR ALL AMERICANS

public health, clinical trials. diabetes, cardiovascular disease, artificial intelligence

Research Mentor: Dr. Eugenia Flores Millender, she/her/ella
Department, College, Affiliation: Center of Population Sciences for Health Empowerment, Nursing
Contact Email: amu18@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Ms. Alyson Urbaniak she/her/ella
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: amu18@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: Remote
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

Day: Tuesday, September 1
Start Time: 12:00
End Time: 5:00
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/2228628652

Project Description

This research project focuses on implementing decentralized, at-home clinical trial methodologies to enhance health outcomes across American communities, with emphasis on adolescents to young adults (18-21 years), aging older adults (55+ years), nationwide patient representation, and key stakeholders and community- based organizations (CBOs). The overall goal is to expand access to decentralized trials and strengthen the FDA’s regulatory mission by improving data quality, participant representation, and informed decision making.

Research Tasks: Research assistants will primarily conduct a systemic literature review identifying key barriers and facilitators regarding patient participation in decentralized (remote) clinical trials that use patient-generated health data (PGHD). Using the Covidence platform, research assistants will evaluate peer-reviewed publications to identify topically-relevant articles and work together in synthesizing the articles to write a final manuscript.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended: source evaluation, database searching, critical thinking, reference management

Mentoring Philosophy

My approach to mentoring undergraduate students is grounded in the belief that every student brings unique experiences, perspectives, strengths, and aspirations to the research environment. I strive to create an inclusive and welcoming space where all students feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute meaningfully, regardless of their prior research experience or background.

I view mentorship as a collaborative process that balances guidance with independence. While I provide the support, training, and resources necessary for students to succeed, I also encourage them to take ownership of their learning and research activities. I believe that fostering self-motivation, curiosity, and initiative helps students develop confidence in their abilities and prepares them for future academic and professional opportunities.

To support this growth, I establish clear expectations, maintain open communication, and encourage students to set personal and academic goals. I value effort, persistence, and continuous learning, recognizing that mistakes and challenges are important parts of the research process. By creating opportunities for students to ask questions, explore new ideas, and engage in problem-solving, I aim to cultivate critical thinking and a sense of intellectual independence.

Ultimately, my goal is to help undergraduate students develop not only technical and research skills but also the confidence, professionalism, and self-directed mindset needed to become successful scholars, professionals, and lifelong learners.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

https://cpshe.fsu.edu/

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Cognitive Skills Model for Predicting Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease, statistics, dementia, meta-analysis, memory

Research Mentor: Dr. Dorota Kossowska-Kuhn,
Department, College, Affiliation: Psychology, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: kuhn@psy.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Gillian Gouveia
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: glgouveia@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: online
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 7-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

The proportion of individuals aged 65 and over is expected to nearly double by 2050, reaching 1.6 billion people. Consequently, the prevalence of dementia, primarily driven by aging, is anticipated to rise sharply. Dementia, currently the 7th leading cause of death globally, significantly contributes to disability and dependency among older adults. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form, comprising 60-80% of dementia cases. Early diagnosis allows patients and their families to understand the challenges ahead and develop strategies for managing current and future issues. With emerging medical treatments, early and accurate diagnosis is increasingly critical.
Spatial navigation tests have shown promise in diagnosing Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition that often precedes AD, predicting the risk of conversion from MCI to dementia, and monitoring AD progression. Our meta-analysis on spatial navigation skills in individuals with MCI revealed significant differences between this group and cognitively healthy older adults at the level of standardized mean difference Hedges g = 0.88 (Kossowska-Kuhn et al., in prep). We plan to take the next step towards conducting a model-based meta-analysis that will allow us to compare the effectiveness of various potential predictors of Alzheimer's disease in predicting its presence, as well as identify which of these predictors make independent contributions to the prediction.
This specific branch of the project will begin to focus on behavioral features in predicting the presence of AD, such as apathy, affective symptoms, impulse control, social changes, and psychotic symptoms.

Research Tasks: -literature review
- data collection
-data analysis

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: All motivated and hard-working students are welcome.

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy revolves around empowering undergraduate students to excel in their project work through a combination of ownership, accountability, shared experience, and interactive learning. I believe in fostering an environment that nurtures their growth and encourages independent thinking.
I emphasize giving mentees ownership of their work by involving them in project decisions, from goal setting to execution. This not only bolsters their confidence but also instills a sense of responsibility for their outcomes. I promote accountability by setting clear expectations and milestones, enabling them to track their progress and take pride in their achievements.
Drawing from my own experience, I share stories of challenges and successes, illustrating the real-world applications of their efforts. This bridges the gap between theory and practice, enhancing their understanding and motivation. I also encourage open dialogue, where questions and ideas are welcomed, creating an interactive platform for collaborative learning.
I understand that each student is unique, with varying skills and aspirations. To accommodate this, I tailor my guidance, offering guidance that aligns with their interests and goals. I provide resources, recommend reading materials, and suggest relevant workshops, fostering holistic development.
In conclusion, my approach to mentoring undergraduates centers on nurturing their autonomy, cultivating responsibility, leveraging shared experiences, and fostering an interactive learning ecosystem. By doing so, I aim to not only support their immediate project objectives but also to equip them with lifelong skills for success.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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Screen Time or Fragmentation? Smartphone Use and Focus in College Students

focus, attention, cognition, digital, technology

Project Description

Smartphones are a constant part of college students’ daily lives, but it is not yet clear whether attention is more strongly related to how much time people spend on their phones or how frequently they interrupt their attention by checking them.

This study will examine the relationship between smartphone use and focus in Florida State University students. Participants will complete a brief online sustained-attention task and questionnaires assessing subjective focus, mental fatigue, stress, sleep, and phone-related interruptions during academic work. Participants will also provide objective iPhone Screen Time information, including average daily screen time and number of phone pickups.

The primary goal is to determine whether digital fragmentation, reflected by frequent phone pickups and checking behavior, is more strongly associated with subjective and objectively measured attention than total screen time. The study will also examine whether students’ perceptions of their own ability to focus correspond to their performance on an objective attention task.

The project is designed as a fully online study and will provide undergraduate researchers with experience in research design, participant recruitment, behavioral data collection, survey methodology, cognitive assessment, data management, and quantitative analysis.

Research Tasks: Conducting literature searches on smartphone use, digital interruptions, sustained attention, mind wandering, and cognitive fatigue.
Assisting with development and testing of the online Qualtrics study.
Piloting the survey and computerized attention task and identifying technical or usability problems.
Assisting with participant recruitment and monitoring data collection.
Reviewing uploaded Screen Time information and verifying reported screen-time and pickup measures according to a standardized coding procedure.
Organizing, cleaning, and quality-checking survey and behavioral-task data.
Learning to score measures of subjective focus and sustained attention.
Assisting with descriptive statistics, correlations, regression analyses, and visualization of study results.
Participating in research meetings to discuss hypotheses, methodological decisions, findings, and interpretation.
Contributing to preparation of research presentations, posters, and potentially a manuscript based on the project.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: All motivated and hard-working students are welcome.

Mentoring Philosophy

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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The Next Generation of Researchers

Education, research, learning, teaching

Research Mentor: Betsy Staudt Willet, she/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Office of Research, Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: betsy.staudtwillet@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors, with a preference for students who have taken a research course in high school, especially at Florida State University Schools
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

Day: Monday, August 31
Start Time: 12:00
End Time: 12:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/95922716223

Project Description

We are studying how high school students become researchers in their first research course. My research team partners with high school teachers to understand how research courses like AP Seminar require a different kind of learning experience. Research-focused courses require students to engage in open inquiry processes that include taking initiative and iterative research design. Students need a learning environment that cultivates their curiosity, promotes active engagement, and builds research confidence by developing and applying research skills. Through surveys, focus groups, and monthly journaling, we seek to understand 1) what teachers do differently to help students become successful in research courses, and 2) how students learn and grow as researchers while in high school.

Research Tasks: Data collection, organizing interview and journal data, cleaning and analyzing transcripts and journal entries, conducting interviews, attending research meetings with the FSU team, and with the teacher team.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Communicate and coordinate through email (required)
Digital organizing skills (using OneDrive, Google Drive, spreadsheets) (required)
Ability to take initiative and ask questions (required)
Follow written protocol instructions repeatedly and reliably (required)

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy is to provide an experience that is comfortable enough for you to see through to the end and challenging enough that you will grow in skills, knowledge, and confidence. I cultivate a relationship with my mentees, seeking to understand them and their goals on their own terms. I have a collaborative, strengths-based approach - I like to adapt plans according to my team members' interests, cultures, and needs. Being adaptive and responsive means I communicate regularly and with clarity about expectations. In my experience, being attentive to the learning and development process enables progress toward project goals. I aim to give my mentees ownership and agency within the safety of clear expectations for project tasks. While healthy mentorship relationships take time, they are worthwhile and more productive, leading to personal/professional growth and project completion.

Additional Information

My research team will present the results of this pilot project twice this year, giving UROP students a chance to learn and participate in data analysis and presentations. We are gathering extensive data that can be analyzed further in the future, with the possibility of publishing.

Link to Publications

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AI-Enabled Continental-Scale Assessment of Water Quality and Environmental Vulnerability Across the United States

Water Quality; Machine Learning; Climate Change; Watersheds; GIS

Research Mentor: Shahin Alam,
Department, College, Affiliation: Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science/Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: ma23ch@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, Earth Science, Geography/GIS, Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Biology, Public Health, or premed related disciplines.

Students from other majors with an interest in environmental research and data analysis are also encouraged to apply.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

Water quality across the United States is influenced by interacting climatic, hydrologic, land-use, population, agricultural, and infrastructure-related factors. However, these relationships vary substantially among geographic regions and watershed systems. A continental-scale assessment can help identify common drivers of water-quality degradation as well as regions that may be particularly vulnerable to future environmental change.

This project will integrate large publicly available environmental datasets across the conterminous United States to investigate spatial and temporal patterns in water quality. Potential variables include nutrients, streamflow, precipitation, temperature, drought, land use and land-cover change, agricultural activity, population, wastewater infrastructure, and other watershed characteristics.

Students will contribute to constructing a harmonized geospatial database linking water-quality observations with watershed-scale environmental predictors. Statistical methods, GIS, and machine-learning approaches will then be used to identify the major factors associated with water-quality conditions and determine whether these relationships differ among climatic and geographic regions.

The project will also investigate whether artificial-intelligence and machine-learning approaches can identify areas with elevated susceptibility to water-quality degradation.

The long-term goal is to develop a continental-scale environmental intelligence framework capable of identifying vulnerable watersheds, understanding major environmental drivers, and supporting future water-resource monitoring and management.

Research Tasks: Research assistants may:

Conduct literature reviews on continental-scale water-quality studies.
Compile publicly available water-quality monitoring data.
Collect climate, hydrologic, land-use, agricultural, population, and watershed data.
Organize and quality-check large environmental datasets.
Link monitoring locations to watershed boundaries using GIS.
Develop maps of environmental conditions across the United States.
Analyze spatial and temporal trends in water quality.
Compare water-quality patterns among geographic and climatic regions.
Conduct statistical correlation and regression analyses.
Develop machine-learning models such as random forest and gradient boosting.
Evaluate important predictors of water-quality vulnerability.
Conduct model validation and uncertainty analyses.
Prepare scientific figures and maps.
Assist with research abstracts, posters, presentations, and manuscripts.

Individual student projects will be developed based on each student's interests and technical background.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required
Interest in environmental science, water resources, environmental health, or data analysis.
Willingness to learn new analytical tools.
Attention to detail.
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
Basic familiarity with spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel.
Recommended but Not Required
Python or R.
ArcGIS Pro or QGIS.
Statistics.
Data visualization.
Hydrology or water-quality coursework.
Machine learning.
Remote sensing.

Students are not expected to have all of these skills before joining the project. Training will be provided.

Expected Research Products

Depending on progress and student interests, research assistants may contribute to:

FSU Undergraduate Research Symposium posters.
Research presentations.
Conference abstracts.
Reproducible environmental databases.
GIS products.
Machine-learning models.
Scientific manuscripts.

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy emphasizes progressive development from guided learning toward independent research. Undergraduate researchers enter projects with different academic backgrounds, technical experience, and professional goals; therefore, I tailor research responsibilities to each student's strengths and interests while gradually introducing more challenging analytical tasks.

Students will initially receive structured guidance on scientific literature, data management, GIS, statistical analysis, and research documentation. As their skills develop, they will be encouraged to formulate questions, interpret results, troubleshoot problems, and take increasing ownership of a defined component of the larger project.

Regular meetings will provide opportunities to discuss progress, address challenges, evaluate results, and establish achievable research goals. I encourage students to ask questions and view unexpected results and mistakes as normal components of scientific discovery.

I emphasize reproducibility, responsible research practices, teamwork, critical thinking, and effective scientific communication. Whenever appropriate, students will participate in preparing posters, presentations, abstracts, and manuscripts. My goal is for students to complete the UROP experience with stronger technical skills, increased scientific confidence, and experience conducting meaningful interdisciplinary environmental research.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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Sibling Intervention for Better Support-Coping and Resilience Enhancement (SIBS-CARE): Addressing the Psychosocial Wellbeing of the Siblings of Children with Special Healthcare Needs

pediatric healthcare, social science, mhealth, digital health

Research Mentor: Sonnie Mayewski, she/her
Department, College, Affiliation: College of Social Work, Social Work
Contact Email: SMayewski@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Social Work, Nursing, Psychology, Human Development and Family Science, Sociology

Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

Day: Monday, August 31
Start Time: 4:30
End Time: 5:00
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/91690435515
Day: Thursday, September 3
Start Time: 6:00
End Time: 6:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/91854518085

Project Description

SIBS-CARE is a digital health intervention designed to support siblings of children with special healthcare needs, a population that often experiences elevated stress, anxiety, and unmet emotional needs due to the demands placed on their families. Delivered through a custom-built R Shiny app, the program adapts trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) principles into an accessible, technology-based format that fits into busy family schedules.
This dissertation project aims to develop, refine, and evaluate SIBS-CARE as a scalable tool for improving coping skills, emotional well-being, and family functioning among siblings navigating the challenges of having a brother or sister with a chronic illness or disability. The research combines intervention design, iterative app testing, and outcome evaluation to build evidence for digital mental health tools tailored to an underserved group within pediatric family systems.

Research Tasks: Beta testing: using the SIBS-CARE app and documenting bugs, usability issues, or feedback for iterative development.
Participant check-in calls: conducting brief structured calls with study participants to monitor engagement, answer questions, and collect feedback.
Literature review: searching, screening, and summarizing academic articles relevant to sibling mental health, TF-CBT, and digital health interventions
Data entry and management: inputting check-in call notes or survey responses into REDCap
Recruitment support: assisting with participant outreach, screening for eligibility, and tracking enrollment status.
Qualitative coding assistance: helping apply codes to check-in call notes or open-ended survey responses
Attending research team meetings: participating in weekly meetings to report on progress and receive task guidance.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Strong communication skills (required)
Reliability and time management (required)
Basic computer literacy (required)
Attention to detail (required)
Ability to maintain confidentiality (required)

Prior coursework in psychology, social work, nursing, or a related field (recommended)
Experience with literature databases (recommended
Familiarity with reference management software (e.g., Zotero, EndNote) (recommended)
Interest or coursework in child/family development or pediatric health (recommended)
Basic data entry or spreadsheet experience (e.g., Excel/Google Sheets) (recommended)

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring approach is rooted in the same values that guide my teaching and my clinical social work practice: respect, collaboration, and meeting people where they are. I believe every mentee brings unique strengths, curiosities, and goals to a research experience, and my role is to help them identify those goals early on and tailor their involvement so the work feels meaningful.
I aim to create a learning environment that is interactive and low-stakes, where mentees feel safe asking questions, making mistakes, and learning through trial and error rather than fearing judgment for not immediately knowing the 'right' answer. I regularly check in on my mentees' understanding of tasks and the broader research context, adjusting my explanations and level of guidance as their confidence and skills grow. As they demonstrate competence, I encourage increasing ownership of tasks, because I've found that accountability paired with trust helps students grow into more independent, confident researchers.
I also try to be transparent about my own experiences navigating research, clinical work, and academia, including the setbacks, so mentees understand that struggle is a normal and productive part of the process.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RI535dAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

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Prayers in the Panhandle: The Homelessness Crisis in Tallahassee (1970-2000)

homelessness, social welfare, religious aid organizations, role of government, housing, mental health, alcoholism, perceptions of homelessness,

Research Mentor: Liam Philbin ,
Department, College, Affiliation: History, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: lmp22m@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email: lmp22m@fsu.edu

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5 hours, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

Focused on causes, responses, and political/social dynamics to homelessness in Tallahassee, Florida from 1970-2000. Focus of the project, for sake of feasibility, is on social aid responses to homelessness (private, religious, governmental, non-profit, etc.). The project is a work of history and follows the methods of the field in its arrangement. Other major themes include the role of public/private resources in social welfare, perceptions of homelessness, and the role of national politics in regional/local history regarding the topic.

Research Tasks: I need assistance in reviewing a 12 year period in Leon County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes as well as some other assorted documents such as state and national reports on the unhoused. Most of the work will be done in either Strozier Library (Special Collections, or Basement Archives) or in the Florida State Archives.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: Reading/Analytical Skills, Note-Taking under certain parameters and topics.

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy is providing a means of communicating my experiences in research via the work that we will be doing together. I hope to give the mentees valuable experience in the technical skills of research and research organization/planning while also introducing them to the nitty-gritty experiences of local government and private/public dynamics in social welfare. I also want to be able to encourage them to look at what they find personally interesting within the project as I believe that simple exposure to different fields and topics can help lead to a student discovering their own research passions and desires for their future.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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Weather influencer and severe weather

This project focuses on the study of weather influencer during severe weather events (flooding, tornado, hurricanes etc...)

Research Mentor: Patrick Merle,
Department, College, Affiliation: School of Communication, Communication and Information
Contact Email: pmerle@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

The idea is to study weather influencer and understand which platforms they use, who they are, what they do specifically, how do they communicate their reports, and do people actually follow their advice and recommendations.

Research Tasks: literature review, data collection, data analysis.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: strongly recommended: punctuality, accuracy, precision, seriousness, motivation.

Mentoring Philosophy

The idea is to empower a research assistant to be the best version on themselves during this project through certainly mutual respect and a precise understanding of high academic standards in a safe environment. I want the research assistant to feel comfortable sharing their perspectives and learning from their mistakes and challenges.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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Supporting People with Disabilities to Communicate Using Technology in the AACtion Lab

Artificial Intelligence, Disability, Communication, speech-language pathology

Research Mentor: Dr Dawn Sowers,
Department, College, Affiliation: SCSD, Communication and Information
Contact Email: dsowers@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 4
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors; projects focus on people with multiple disabilities and the use of technology to support their communication.
Project Location: 201 W. Bloxham Street, Tallahassee - Warren Building, near campus/downtown
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

Day: Thursday, September 3
Start Time: 2:00
End Time: 2:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/dsowers
Day: Monday, August 31
Start Time: 1:00
End Time: 1:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/dsowers

Project Description

There are several projects happening in the AACtion Lab for the 26-27 Academic Year that you could support. My research focuses around individuals with multiple disabilities who rely on technology as their primary mode of communication. Current projects include understanding how upright mobility helps children with disabilities increase their language skills and social interactions, teaching literacy skills to students with motor and speech impairments, understanding what continuing education speech therapists need to help these individuals, using AI (machine learning) to support more efficient technology and communication. Perhaps one of these are a match for you!

Research Tasks: Depending on what project, a student in my lab may be:
1. Performing a literature review and/or helping to finalize manuscripts for publication
2. Collecting different types of data from individuals with or without disabilities
3. Analyzing data - including qualitative data such as interview responses, organizing findings, etc, providing reliability checks on already analyzed data

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: I will teach you the skills that you need to complete the tasks associated with your project. Skills that may be useful include:
1. Willingness to ask questions
2. Curious nature
3. Understanding that people with communication and other disabilities deserve to have a voice and wanting to participate in efforts to support them
4. Organization and time management

Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy is to create a space of mutual respect that builds on our individual talents and strengths while accomplishing a common meaningful goal within the realm of communication disorders. As much as possible, I want to align the work with your interests and allow you a level of ownership of the work you are doing in my lab. I have high expectations but offer support, direction, and positive encouragement while you and I learn from each other and learn new skills. I am not looking for perfection in a student, but I do like to see a commitment to seeing the project through, and a dedication to the process required; working through mistakes together and bringing our best selves to the work space.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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Childhood Environments, God Attachment, and Moral Decision Making

morality, childhood environments, God attachment

Research Mentor: Felicia Jones, She/Her
Department, College, Affiliation: Psychology, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: fjones@psy.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Psychology
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 9-11, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

What leads to a person’s honesty, helping, and supporting versus lying, cheating, and stealing? Our research team is investigating different environmental and personal factors that influence morality, specifically, childhood environments and experiences and how individuals relate to God. Childhood environments set the stage for how people think, feel, and approach others, including in important decisions about whether to help or harm another person. Childhood environments can be stable, well-resourced, and safe, or they can be unpredictable, deprived, and threatening. One part of this project entails reviewing the literature on work linking specific childhood environmental factors and experiences to moral thoughts, feelings, approaches, and decision making. Of course, people’s beliefs, including their religious ones, can play a large role in which moral thoughts, feelings, approaches, and decisions they demonstrate. One important factor that is less studied is how people relate to and see God. Just as people can feel relationally close to or distant from their loved ones, they can be securely or insecurely (i.e., anxiously or avoidantly) attached to their God. In sum, in this project, we aim to systematically review and study how childhood environmental factors and attachment to God relate to people’s moral psychology, decision-making, and behavior.

Research Tasks: Literature reviews
Data collection, working with participants
Data cleaning
Writing
Research presentation

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Familiarity with Microsoft suite/Google docs (required)
Literature review experience (recommended)
Experience in statistical analysis software (SPSS; recommended)

Mentoring Philosophy

The Maranges lab prioritizes their research assistants getting hands-on experience in various aspects of the research process to develop and hone their skills in addition to joining a supportive intellectual community. Research assistants work closely with graduate students to identify their goals and work towards them while learning about the research done in the lab, and working towards the cultivation of novel insights within the field of social and moral psychology.

Additional Information

Link to Publications

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