During the 2019-2020 academic year, the classrooms, labs, and study spaces in Beck Hall (BH) were filled with Psychological Science students conducting research, collaborating with professors, learning about professional organizations, attending conferences, and in some cases, publishing their research results. We asked students to share their experiences and over the next few months, we plan to post blogs about all the applied learning that occurred in BH and beyond.
Our first blog features Kjorte Harra. Kjorte definitely took advantage of research opportunities as an undergrad. She explained that she participated in a research apprenticeship her junior year with Dr. Marie Walker, “We reanalyzed data from a previous student’s project. Ended up presenting that research at the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) conference in Toronto in October 2019, at the GAC research symposium, and at Scholars at the Capitol in March 2020”. Kjorte is pictured above at the Scholars at the Capitol event. At the Capitol, the conference, and the symposium Kjorte presented her poster to experts in various fields, faculty from multiple institutions, and students who attended.
Dr. Walker also recommended her as an intern to David Menk in Institutional Research, where she worked for him the summer before her senior year (2019) and did a career exploration during her last semester at Gustavus. She also joined PsiChi, which is an international honors society that invites scholars to become lifelong members. Kjorte graduated this spring and eventually plans to pursue a PHD in quantitative psychology/research methods.
Kjorte Harra’s research experience at GAC will serve her well. We are so excited to see what she does next in the field of Psychological Science.
*If you are a current Gustavus student and interested in Psychological Science or perhaps a new major, remember all the research opportunities you can take advantage of! Talk with your adviser and your professors about possibilities!