68 Reflection on Undergraduate Research Experience – Alicia Quick

Graduate Student Mentor: Amy McDonnell (Psychology, University of Utah)

My undergraduate research experience has been extremely beneficial and a huge learning experience. I was fortunate enough to work in a great lab with a very involved mentor. I got to experience the various parts of research from collecting data, analyzing data, and putting the findings into a paper. With all the things I learned I feel more confident in my understanding of how research works and have acquired many skills I otherwise wouldn’t have. The impact of this on my education has been that I was able to finish my Human Factors Certificate final project doing research I found interesting. I also have strengthened my writing skills as well as my experience working with real data. My future goals have been impacted by opening up more opportunities to work as a human factors researcher by giving me experience that will make me a more competitive candidate in that job market. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to have worked in this lab and with this research.