Student Research in Psychology: Alive and Growing

            The most recent edition of the Commentator included an article exploring student research in the sciences, noting the exciting opportunities for research. The article focused on research in the “hard sciences,” sidelining the research being done on the Yeshiva College campus in the social sciences. Besides the course listings for guided research in chemistry, biology, and physics, each semester’s schedule also includes similar opportunities in psychology and sociology.

This 1.5 credit course requires students to work for approximately six hours a week, though they often spend many more. Part of this opportunity also includes two hours of meetings with a guiding professor each week. However, the relatively small size of Yeshiva College allows each student to receive attention from his professor. Psychology professor Dr. Bruno Galantucci and his students constantly email back and forth and call each other to discuss progress, breakthroughs, and new ideas.

            How does one conduct research in psychology? Research in psychology at Yeshiva College begins with reading about other people’s research. Next comes the designing and running of experiments to test groups of people. Once the experiment has been completed, the researcher must collect and analyze the data. Finally, if all goes well, the student, with the aid of his guiding professor, has the opportunity to write an experimental psychology research paper in the APA (American Psychology Association) style and attempt to get it published.

            Recently, the psychology professors have been meeting to discuss their own research projects and ways to incorporate students into their own work. Originally, no formal system was in place; a student interested in doing research would approach a professor with whom he had a relationship. If the professor had time, they would work something out. Now the department is in the process of formalizing student research opportunities.

            The first step in this direction was Professor Jenny Isaacs’ course Advanced Research, which covered research techniques, writing, and theory. This course is intended to equip students interested in doing research with the tools they need to be useful to professors with whom they would be working and give them the lab skills and training necessary to do publishable work. It is offered yearly each fall semester; however, if there is more demand the psychology department would be willing to offer it every semester. The optimal size for that class is four or five students.

            Dr. Galantucci told the Commentator that, “we are working on creating space for more student research with faculty.” Currently, the psychology department believes that between all the tenured professors, they could accommodate approximately 20 students doing research, and if they include the full time non-tenured professors, that number could go to as high as 30.

            One limiting factor is funding. Currently, the department uses the startup funds that Yeshiva College provides junior faculty members for research. Dr. Galantucci’s personal grant is partially being spent employing a post-doctorate, Carrie Theisen, to help with research in the lab and to be available to students who are involved in research.

            The psychology department is currently applying for external grants from the National Science Foundation. The difficulty, however, is that Yeshiva has yet to establish itself as a center for psychology research. Ironically, this puts YU in a vicious cycle, because having the necessary funds would help move YU towards the reputation necessary to achieve additional grants. In the meantime, the psychology department is trying to keep their research budget low, meaning no MRIs or other expensive machinery.

            Dr. Galantucci is currently conducting research with four students in the psychology lab. In an interview he noted that, “the social science faculty is an untapped resource here at Yeshiva College, and I encourage students to carve out time in their already busy schedule for this opportunity.” Reuven Turgel, (YC ’09) who is currently researching methods of studying language emergence and how language is born under Dr. Galantucci, had this to say about his experience, “I have found the research experience very rewarding. Not only does it enable me to strengthen my research skills and broaden my knowledge but it gives me the opportunity to form a close relationship with my professor.”