Welcome to the Spelman/UCSD Summer Research Program

Goals

This program is designed to provide exposure to lab-based scientific training and introduction to life as a future graduate student researcher. Psychology is one of the largest majors at Spelman, and many students go on to finish Psychology PhDs. Our primary goal is to provide research experience at UCSD and to recruit talented new students to join our graduate program or graduate programs at other UC campuses.

Students will live on campus at UCSD for 8 weeks during the summer to participate in the Summer Training Academy for Research in the Sciences (STARS) program and to partner with UCSD faculty and graduate student mentors. The program includes eight weeks of daily lab research, student development workshops, graduate record exam (GRE) training, teambuilding physical exercises, career workshops and social activities. Participants are paid a stipend, and all travel expenses and lodging are fully covered. At the end of the program, each student gives a presentation at the UCSD Summer Research Symposium.

Strategy

Spelman students will be matched with individual UCSD faculty members to perform research projects, by application and acceptance into individual laboratories. Students will meet with their faculty advisor once weekly in a one-on-one meeting, and attend lab meetings roughly once per week. Typically, PhD level graduate students will oversee the student’s day-to-day research activity. UC San Diego faculty within this proposal have extensive experience working with undergraduates in laboratory settings and were chosen for their degree of enthusiasm in promoting diversity in our academic programs.