University of San Diego Department of Psychological Sciences

Rita Taylor: Alumna, Department of Psychological Sciences 1. Describe your current position?... I am an Institutional Review Board (IRB) Specialist at Sharp HealthCare. An Institutional Review Board is a federally mandated committee made up of volunteers who review research to determine if it follows the ethical principles and federal regulations for the protection of human subjects. I am a voting member of the committee, as well as one of two specialists who handle the day to day operations of the committee. 2. Can you describe the research projects you are reviewing? The majority of the research projects the Sharp HealthCare IRB reviews are industry-sponsored clinical trials - my focus is on cardiology, neonatology, behavioral health, and nephrology. Of late, we have also reviewed many COVID-19 treatment protocols as these are the main source of treatment for COVID-19 inpatients at Sharp HealthCare. In addition to industry-sponsored clinical trials, we also review the graduate research projects of pharmacy residents and nursing students, which often consist of retrospective chart reviews and/or quality improvement projects. Many of the nursing projects come from Sharp employees who are pursuing their MSN or PhD in nursing from the Hahn School of Nursing. Because they use Sharp employees or patients for their projects, they often have to submit to both the USD IRB and the Sharp HealthCare IRB. 3. How did your undergrad education at USD prepare you for this position? I first learned about the history of Institutional Review Boards in my Introduction to Psychology class my freshman year. My sophomore year, I began working in Dr. Koenig's lab and assisting with her research projects. There, I learned more about human subject protections in research and I saw firsthand how the requirements of the IRB and the federal regulations are put into practice during the conduct of a research project, such as obtaining informed consent and debriefing subjects after participation that involves deceit, as is common in social science studies. My senior year, I designed my own study for my honors thesis and had to obtain USD IRB's approval prior to beginning my research. When I was offered the position of IRB Specialist at Sharp HealthCare, I was grateful to have already had experience with IRBs and research due to my education at USD. Additionally, my undergraduate research experience has been incredibly important in helping me understand the perspective of the researcher, which is invaluable in my job due to the high level of collaboration that is required in the researcher-IRB relationship. - Rita

Interview with Dr. Veronica Galvan and Military and Veterans Program- USD Torero Life USD Student Veteran and Military and Veterans Program Ambassador interviews Dr. Veronica Galvan, Psychology and Neuroscience professor and military-connected faculty on the "Train Your Brain" Workshop (already delivered). She will share knowledge of the brain and ways to enhance memory to impact academic grades, time management, and daily life. https://youtu.be/EKDLBdszYe8

Updated zoom link! see you tomorrow!

The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious national scholarship providing up to 2 years of support for students interested in STEM research careers, with 1 or 2 years remaining of undergraduate study. USD's Goldwater Scholarship nominating committee is sending invitations to high GPA students in STEM majors encouraging them to apply for nomination by USD.... What we are frequently missing are high-achieving UNDECLARED sophomore level students -- if you are such a student in your classes please apply! see the poster (attached) as a slide with a brief explanation.

Kiran Long-Iyer PhD student, neuroscience at UC Davis 1. Describe your current position and the academic path you took in order to get there?... I am currently a second year graduate student in the Neuroscience PhD program at UC Davis. I was a Behavioral Neuroscience major at USD, and I was involved with on-campus research in Dr. Jena Hales' lab during undergrad. After I graduated, I worked for a year at Neurophotometrics, a San Diego based start-up that specializes in building in vivo imaging systems for academic neuroscience research. Through my job, I was able to visit labs at institutions around the world and work with grad students, postdocs, and faculty to collect and analyze data. I applied to PhD programs in the fall of 2018, and matriculated at Davis in the fall of 2019. 2. Can you describe the research projects you are involved in? I recently joined Dr. Lin Tian's research group, where I will conduct my thesis research on the development and application of neuromodulator biosensors. I am particularly interested in exploring the interplay of dopaminergic and serotonergic systems in the context of reward and aversion. Currently, I am optimizing a novel genetically-encoded fluorescent serotonin sensor for in vivo use and recording serotonin transients in mice during a series of operant reward paradigms. 3. How did your undergrad education at USD prepare you for your advanced studies? 3. At USD, I was able to develop close relationships with my academic mentors, Dr. Hales and Dr. Sitaraman, who encouraged me to apply to PhD programs in neuroscience. I gained valuable hands-on research experience, which was really helpful during my gap year and starting graduate school. The upper division BN courses at USD prepared me well for the rigor of graduate school classes. Additionally, I met the founder of Neurophotometrics through a USD Psychology Club event in the spring of my senior year, which is how I was able to land such a cool post-grad job!

Veronica Ramirez, PhD student - Presentation to the Psyc/ BN club Fall 2020 https://sandiego.hosted.panopto.com/Pano/Pages/Viewer.aspx

The Psychology & Behavioral Neuroscience Club is hosting its first event of the semester! Make sure to join on Tuesday, September 1st!

Tatiana Zamora USD Class of 2020 BA in Psychology, minor in Philosophy School: Stanford Graduate School of Education...Continue reading

Name: Caroline Dayton Majors: Psychology and Economics Grade: Senior This summer, I completed an internship doing human resources at Texas Instruments. I had no prior experience in HR, so it was an opportunity to learn about what a job in HR can actually... look like. I was surprised by how many different types of roles there are in HR it is definitely not all about hiring and firing. In one project, I analyzed data from a site in Tucson to determine which employees had been quitting in the past couple of years, and I made recommendations for the site leaders with the goal of increasing employee engagement among the population that was most likely to leave. In another project, I created some resources that employees can use to help plan their careers and navigate challenges that arise in career. Although the internship was virtual, I had a great experience and truly felt like a valued member of the team. I will be returning to TI full-time next summer to start their HR rotation program for new college graduates, and am eager to continue pairing my desire to help employees feel happier in their roles with the best interest of the business.

Kenneth Keith, Professor Emeritus Department of Psychological Sciences: https://teachpsych.org/page-1703896/9141619

Are you subscribed to our department Alumni Newsletter? Read through our newsletter to learn more about student and faculty accomplishments this semester. https://mailchi.mp/abcdd06c8ef7/ynf0equ2j0

Sarah Baker, Ph.D. USD, 2011-2015 1. Describe your current position and the academic path you took in order to get there?... I recently graduated with my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from The Rockefeller University in New York City where I focused my thesis work on discovering how blood proteins regulate the chronic neuroinflammation characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. I am now transitioning to a career in medical communications and I am working at a medical education agency that specializes in creating different types of science communications materials throughout the course of the development of a drug. The field is extremely fast paced, making it a fun and challenging space to be in. I am learning a lot every day. 2. Can you describe the psychology oriented research projects you are (were) involved in? As a double major in both Biochemistry and Psychology while at USD, most of my research out of the classroom was related to chemistry and I worked in a physical chemistry lab where I studied optical properties of nanocrystals. However, the research methods courses that I took as part of the Psychology curriculum helped me to figure out how to ask good questions and how to rigorously evaluate my methods in order to make sure I was approaching my research properly. For example, in the research methods course with Dr. Wanic we practiced how to write an IRB application. This practice helped me a lot during graduate school because I had to fill out several IRB protocols for my research! These are skills that I carried with me into graduate school. 3. How did your undergrad education at USD prepare you for your advanced studies? When I first started at USD, the Behavioral Neuroscience major did not exist. I knew that I was interested in science, but during my first semester I took an Intro to Psychology course with Stephen Pearlberg and I fell in love with psychology as well. At that point, I decided to merge my interests in basic science and psychology by double majoring in both Biochemistry and Psychology to create my own sort of Neuroscience major. The liberal arts education at USD, where professors always expressed genuine interest in their students, provided me with a breadth and depth of knowledge that helped throughout my Ph.D. at a rigorous science institution.