Undergraduate Research Assistant Opportunity
Are you interested in the psychological research process? Are you looking for opportunities to
help build your graduate school CV (including medical school)? If so, gaining experience
working in a research lab setting at CSU could be of great benefit.
Dr. Eric Allard’s Aging, Cognition, and Emotion (ACE) Laboratory is seeking enthusiastic and
diligent students for research assistant positions.
Work in Dr. Allard’s laboratory broadly assesses emotion and cognition links (primarily in the
context of emotion regulation) across adulthood and old age. A variety of topics include:
 How certain emotion regulation strategies influence well-being in younger and older
adults
 How a variety of motivational states lead individuals to experience both positive and
negative moods to help with long-term well-being
 Stress reactivity and adaptive emotion regulation processes/behaviors in a nonlaboratory/real-world setting
 How emotional preferences in old age might influence maladaptive decision making (i.e.,
financial decisions and gambling tendencies)
 Linking attention and autonomic physiology to the etiology and management of
depression in adulthood and old age
Dr. Allard’s lab uses a variety of innovative technologies to address these questions, including
eye tracking and psychophysiological recording (ECG, EDA, and impedance cardiography).
Undergraduate research assistants receive training in significant aspects of the following:
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Understanding the development of theory and research questions
Participant recruitment
Project design and stimulus creation
Laboratory methodologies
Conducting experiments
Processing and analyzing data for write-ups geared toward conference presentations,
publications, and grant proposals
Students can also obtain course credit as a research assistant by enrolling in PSY 396.
If interested in working in the lab, please complete the application form on the following pages.
You can fill it out electronically and email the completed form to Dr. Allard at
e.s.allard@csuohio.edu. You can also contact Dr. Allard with any additional questions or
requests for further information.
Undergraduate Research Assistant Application
Name:
Class Year (projected graduation year):
Phone:
Email:
Major:
Current GPA (if available):
Number of hours able to work per week:
***Note: for students seeking PSY 396 credit, number of work hours is commensurate with
number of credit hours. For instance, 3 credit hours of PSY 396 equates to roughly 9-10 work
hours per week. Also, prerequisites for PSY 396 are PSY 101, PSY 311 or equivalent****
Please briefly describe your reasons for applying to this position:
What specific research interests do you have that might be related to the work conducted in Dr.
Allard’s lab?
What do you hope to gain out of your experience working in the lab?
Do you have any previous research experience (it is ok if you don’t)? If so, what were some of
your duties?
For those without previous research experience, do you have any related work experience
outside of a laboratory setting (e.g., working in mental health settings or clinical care settings,
such as nursing homes or assisted living centers)?
Please list any relevant skills, especially computer and software skills (e.g., coding, Excel,
EPrime, MATLAB, SPSS, Photoshop, etc.).
Please list any relevant information (not already covered) that you feel would make you a
suitable candidate for a research assistant position:
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and individuals will be contacted for
individual interviews until the allotted positions are full. Applications will be kept on file
for at least 1 year in the event that additional spots open up. Again, if you have any
questions and wish for additional information, please contact Dr. Allard at
e.s.allard@csuohio.edu