Alex Crenshaw

Opportunities For Students

I am currently taking applications for a select few volunteer research assistant (RA) positions starting in the Summer or Fall of 2017 to join the CLOSE Lab with Dr. Brian Baucom. I am looking for RAs for two major projects. One project is a study investigating how married couples perceive and understand one another during conflict. RA duties on this project involve processing physiological data, listening to and coding marital conflict discussions, and may include other coding projects in the future. The second project is a study funded by the Department of Defense investigating relationship factors associated with suicide in military couples. RA duties on this project involve helping to run participants through study procedures.

I highly value working collaboratively with research assistants. I encourage RAs to express interest in projects that appeal to them, and I work to balance your interests with the needs of the lab. It is also completely appropriate to be unsure what your interests are until you have had experience trying some things out. In our lab, RAs can expect to gain first-hand experience with the research process--collecting data, processing data, learning coding systems, etc. RAs also gain valuable advice and guidance about career decisions, such as whether to apply to graduate school, what type of program to apply to, and how to improve your odds as an applicant, and RAs in good standing receive letters of recommendation for graduate school. More informally, RAs also tend to gain some exposure to the higher level thought process and decision-making that is done in research, although this is generally informal.

New RAs must commit to an average of 6 hours per week for at least one year. RAs must be good with communication (especially email), be extremely reliable, and be self-sufficient in completing tasks or advocating for yourself if you are missing materials or information needed to complete such tasks. RAs are also required to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher (GPA of 3.5 or higher is preferred). The most successful RAs tend to be those who are reliable, responsive, take initiative, and can be relied upon to complete their responsibilities without needing to be micromanaged.

No experience is necessary and training is provided for all duties. I encourage all interested applicants to email me for a copy of our RA application, and feel free to contact me with any questions.

Education

B.A., Miami University (Psychology, 2007)
M.S., University of Utah (Psychology, 2016)