Child Affect Regulation & Expression Lab (CARE)

Supervising Faculty: Judith K. Morgan, PhD

Contact: Judith K. Morgan, morganjk@upmc.edu

Area of Research: Developmental Mechanisms of Risk for Affective Disorders

Description of Research: Using multimodal imaging (fMRI, NIRS) and behavioral observations to evaluate risk and protective factors for the development of affective disorders

Duties of Students:

  • Affective and behavioral coding
  • Assisting with neuroimaging (fMRI, NIRS) and laboratory visits
  • Data entry and management
  • Childcare
  • Completing required reading
  • Leading journal club discussion
  • Final research project

Requirements:

  • Overall GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • 12 credits of Psychology (including current term)
  • STAT 0200/1000/1100 Statistics
  • PSY 0036 Research Methods Lecture
  • PSY 0037 Research Methods Lab
  • Prior experience working with children

Recruitment Process: Interested students are required to submit their CV or resume, which should clearly indicate their GPA and their prior experience working with children. Students are then interviewed by the lab PI and at least one postgraduate/research staff (separately). To ensure equitable consideration, students are asked a standard set of questions (e.g., goal for research participation, prior experience with research, prior experience working with children) and students are encouraged to ask questions (to ensure that our lab experience will also fit their personal goals). Students who have prior experience working with children (e.g., babysitting, camps etc.), whose research interests most closely align with our lab, and those who can make at least one year commitment to the lab are prioritized.

Terms offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Number of Students: 4

Lab website: https://carelab.pitt.edu/