The Spring and Summer 2023 recruitment period is closed. You may submit an application for future consideration.
Undergraduate research assistantships are available to students. Assistantships are available as part of an HP 290 or 490 Directed Research Course, paid through Federal Work Study (if eligible), or can be done on a volunteer basis. Qualified students from other programs within USC (e.g., psychology, neuroscience) and at other institutions, including recent graduates, are also welcome to apply. Research assistants work on clinical and field studies examining the role of emotional factors that influence tobacco, alcohol and other drug use, as well as other behaviors that impact health (e.g. exercise and diet).
Undergraduate assistantships are a great way to gain initial exposure to innovative, collaborative research in preparation for medical school and graduate school in psychology, neuroscience and public health. HEAL alumni have gone on to graduate school at some of the leading institutions and programs in the nation, including: UCLA, NYU, USC, UCSF, Dartmouth, University of Arizona, University of California Davis, New York Medical College, University of Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, Tulane University, and University of Hawaii.
We prioritize assistantships to students who are interested in committing to:
- Two consecutive semesters of volunteering
- 10 hours of volunteering per week
Student Research Assistants will have the opportunity to support HEAL’s clinical lab studies. Our lab studies examine the role of emotional and behavioral factors that influence tobacco, nicotine, and other drug use.
Responsibilities include:
- Conduct health history eligibility screening interviews with participants
- Assist with participant recruitment and retention
- Create and manage study materials
- Transcribe participant interviews from audio files to text
- Data collection in laboratory-based behavioral experiments with adult substance users
- Identify survey measures
- Build and test surveys and input data in REDCap (web-based data collection tool)
- Review literature on emerging topics in nicotine and tobacco research
Student Research Assistants will have the opportunity to work in a team environment to support HEAL’s longitudinal prospective cohort studies. Our cohort studies provide current and leading information on health behavior, mental health, and addiction among teens and young adults.
Responsibilities include:
- Conduct follow-up and reminder calls to participants and parents
- Assist with participant recruitment and retention
- Track survey completion rates and engage in quality control measures
- Create and manage study materials
- Identify survey measures
- Build and test surveys in REDCap (web-based data collection tool)
- Support school-based data collection with adolescents
- Analyze data and develop reports of key findings to provide to schools
- Review literature on emerging topics in nicotine and tobacco research
Student Research Assistants will gain experience with statistical programming languages, data management, and data analysis.
Responsibilities include:
- Data wrangling: transforming raw data to appropriate data formats for analysis
- Statistical computing: analyzing data and communicating results to researchers
- Collaborate with other members and teams of HEAL
Please click below to begin your application for the Health, Emotion, and Addiction Lab Assistantship. If you have any questions or comments, please contact uschealapply@gmail.com.