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Internships: Psychology
Student Profile: Adam Palmer
Studying teens' risk-taking behavior
Adam Palmer, a senior Psychology major and Honors student, plans to obtain a PhD and become a researcher in either neuropsychology or forensic psychology*. Knowing that research experience would help Adam in his application to PhD programs, one of his Texas State psychology professors, Dr. Reiko Graham, helped him to obtain an internship doing behavioral research at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research. During the nine-week internship, Adam studied the personality characteristics of children and teens age 9-18 who have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, in an effort to correlate certain personality characteristics with risk-taking behavior (unprotected sex and drug and alcohol use). His results showed that the children and teens who engaged in risk-taking behavior shared the personality characteristic “impulsivity”: they acted on impulse without thinking about the consequences of their behavior. At the internship’s conclusion, Adam presented his findings at conferences at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana.
"The knowledge and experience I gained from my work and from interacting with other students in the program is invaluable," Adam said. His student colleagues conducted research on topics such as youth mobilization in migrant marches, making university websites more accessible to students with disabilities, developing a process to assay the SARS virus, gentrification of Chicago's west side, and political identity formation in urban Latina adolescents.
Adam’s internship was sponsored by a consortium of Big 10 universities—the Committee on Institutional Cooperation—to encourage minority students to enter careers in research science. Adam, a Native American from Houston, was one of 580 minority students nationwide to be invited to hold internships on one of the consortium’s 14 campuses—University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Adam hopes to be invited by one of the universities to hold another internship, this time in a research lab or science department that has a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. The FMRI enables researchers to look at blood flow to the brain and determine how oxygenation affects behavior—information that is useful in finding treatments for disorders such as depression and aggression. Adam said that experience doing research in an FMRI lab will help in his application to PhD programs in neuropsychology and forensic psychology.
*Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between the nervous system, especially the brain, and cerebral or mental functions such as language, memory, and perception. Forensic psychology is the application of psychology to legal issues, often for the purpose of offering expert testimony in a courtroom.
Studying teens' risk-taking behavior
Adam Palmer, a senior Psychology major and Honors student, plans to obtain a PhD and become a researcher in either neuropsychology or forensic psychology*. Knowing that research experience would help Adam in his application to PhD programs, one of his Texas State psychology professors, Dr. Reiko Graham, helped him to obtain an internship doing behavioral research at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research. During the nine-week internship, Adam studied the personality characteristics of children and teens age 9-18 who have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, in an effort to correlate certain personality characteristics with risk-taking behavior (unprotected sex and drug and alcohol use). His results showed that the children and teens who engaged in risk-taking behavior shared the personality characteristic “impulsivity”: they acted on impulse without thinking about the consequences of their behavior. At the internship’s conclusion, Adam presented his findings at conferences at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana."The knowledge and experience I gained from my work and from interacting with other students in the program is invaluable," Adam said. His student colleagues conducted research on topics such as youth mobilization in migrant marches, making university websites more accessible to students with disabilities, developing a process to assay the SARS virus, gentrification of Chicago's west side, and political identity formation in urban Latina adolescents.
Adam’s internship was sponsored by a consortium of Big 10 universities—the Committee on Institutional Cooperation—to encourage minority students to enter careers in research science. Adam, a Native American from Houston, was one of 580 minority students nationwide to be invited to hold internships on one of the consortium’s 14 campuses—University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Adam hopes to be invited by one of the universities to hold another internship, this time in a research lab or science department that has a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. The FMRI enables researchers to look at blood flow to the brain and determine how oxygenation affects behavior—information that is useful in finding treatments for disorders such as depression and aggression. Adam said that experience doing research in an FMRI lab will help in his application to PhD programs in neuropsychology and forensic psychology.
*Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between the nervous system, especially the brain, and cerebral or mental functions such as language, memory, and perception. Forensic psychology is the application of psychology to legal issues, often for the purpose of offering expert testimony in a courtroom.