Prospective Students
I am looking to fill student researcher positions in my lab in the areas of design creativity, creative cognition, and expert decision-making in technical design domains. If you have an interest in working in any of these areas, or have an idea for a new and innovative research project that you would like to investigate under my mentorship you should start here. Please read this page in order to understand what I am looking for in a student researcher, before contacting me about research positions.
Career goals and trajectory.
While I will generally consider students in all stages of their academic career, I mainly focus on mentoring students who are planning on writing a Masters Thesis, or PhD students. There are exceptions to this, but students who are interested in conducting cutting-edge, independently-driven research are generally the same students who pursue a thesis or dissertation. These same students usually go on to take research positions in industry or academic positions after graduation. My emphasis on writing a thesis or dissertation (as opposed to the Capstone Exit Option) ensures that the work you do in my lab contributes to your own academic progress, as well as your career goals.
Interest in Research.
Another important quality I look for in students seeking research positions with me is a genuine interest in conducting research and contributing to scientific knowledge, in line with my research projects and the goals of my lab. In other words, if you are looking to use this experience to flesh out your CV, or looking to gain some development experience during the school year, then working my lab is probably not suitable for you. In addition, if you only have one semester to devote to a research project, then it may be difficult to benefit from the experience since developing research skills, familiarity in the area, and competence in the methods takes substantial time. There may be exceptions to this, but in general, think about joining my research lab as a multi-semester, and often, multi-year journey in becoming a competent researcher under my mentorship. As such, you can expect extremely hands-on mentorship and guidance from me to ensure you succeed in your research endeavors, and in return, I expect your full commitment to the research, the lab community, and the completion of your assigned research tasks. The research we do in my lab seeks to answer big questions in the domain of human innovation and creativity in order to advance scientific knowledge- not developing commercial-grade software, or developing quick solutions to industrial problems. If that's your interest, pursuing an internship in industry may be more appropriate for you.
If on the other hand, you're truly interested in getting involved in research-- understanding human cognition and creativity, exploring unanswered questions, then you may be in the right place. This does not just include graduate students, but I also highly encourage undergraduate students to pursue research opportunities since there could be an interest in trying out research to help you consider graduate school options.
Skills that I look for.
My research involves a variety of technical and non-technical skills, and the needs of particular projects vary. If you're a graduate student you should already be comfortable with most of these skills. Undergraduates should be adept with one or more and have a willingness to learn other skills quickly. My main emphasis is not on students coming in with all these skills, but more on students' willingness and potential to pick these up:
Applied Statistics: A lot of my projects have a quantitative analysis component. Coursework in and a working knowledge of inferential statistics and a software package like (SPSS, Minitab, or R) is not unequivocally required, but will help.
Technical Writing: Do you have experience with and enjoy writing about technical topics? Research involves a lot of writing, and a baseline competency in writing will help you complete writing tasks faster and more effectively.
Human Cognition and Psychology: My research primarily centers on topics related to design and creativity in humans. As such, you should be comfortable in the domain of cognitive science and psychology, or at least have interest in learning more about these topics. I am typically seeking students who have a technical background (engineering, IT, math), but have an interest in cognition and psychology (e.g., taken courses in psychology, HCI, design, education, human factors, etc).
Unstructured Task Completion: The work we do does not often have an obvious answer, and I expect students to be self-driven to solve these open-ended problems (with guidance from me). If you thrive in environments with uncertainty and are looking to challenge yourself to pick up skills and expertise as needed, then you will fit right in.
What do to if you still want to work with me.
If after reading the previous points you are still interested in working with me, then I ask that you please send me an email to set up a meeting with me. Your email must include the following elements:
A subject containing the title: PROSPECTIVE STUDENT RESEARCHER
Your CV or resume highlighting your relevant research, academic, and industrial experience.
A brief (half page) paragraph describing how your research interests align with my research projects (found on the Research page of this website, or through the BRIDGE lab website). I am looking for your specific interest in scientific work, not relevant industrial, programming, or course work experience. The more specific you are, the better I can assess your fit with my research and my lab. I expect you to be familiar with my publications on the topic, or other relevant research in this area and tie these into your description of research interest.
*Note: If you are a prospective graduate student thinking about applying to the UNO graduate programs, check out this link for the current programs in our college. You can also contact me with questions about my research and the BRIDGE lab during this process.