Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Students walking outside, by Armin Rimoldi – Pexels.

Our Undergraduate Research Program offers a wide range of opportunities for undergraduate students to become a member of one of our many research teams.

The Munroe-Meyer Institute is looking for applicants from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and interests who want to be part of a cooperative research environment.

Typically, students will spend the first semester getting exposure to their lab, reading relevant papers, shadowing study visits and performing entry-level tasks in the lab. In the second semester, students will have the opportunity to spend more time in the lab and become more involved in projects. Following the first year, students will be eligible to have a research experience or project for credit.

How to Apply

If you would like to be considered for a position, please email Dr. Jennifer Blackford with the following.

Resume/CV.
Lab(s) of interest.
Half-page personal statement that describes why you are interested in research training experience, especially related to the labs you are interested in.
Anticipated availability. Note: all programs will require availability during regular work hours.

Volunteer Opportunities

Summer

Visit the Summer Undergraduate Research Program for summer opportunities.

Fall/Spring Semesters

Explore the project opportunities below offered by various MMI departments.

Physical Therapy

Play Lab

Our projects focus on designing intervention and technologies to help improve quality of life for people with disabilities. Our team's current project aims to evaluate intervention measures of a virtual reality program based on Hand Arm Bimanual Intensive Training (HABIT) compared to HABIT program.

Preferred Skills:

We are seeking undergraduate research assistants to engage in a variety of research activities, including coding of data from videos of intervention sessions, digitally gathering scientific articles and data processing.
No prior experience with these tasks is required, as training will be provided.

Babik I, Cunha A.B., Lobo MA (2019). Play with objects in children with arthrogryposis: effects of intervention with the Playskin Lift™ exoskeletal garment. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part C, Seminars in Medical Genetics. 181(3):393-403.
Gehringer JE, Fortin E, Surkar SM, Hao J, Pleiss M, Jensen-Willett S. Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Training in Virtual Reality: A Feasibility Study. Pediatr Phys Ther. 2023;35(1):85-91.
Logan SW, Hospodar CM, Bogart KR, Catena MA, Feldner HA, Fitzgerald J, Schaffer S, Sloane B, Phelps B, Phelps J, Smart WD. Real World Tracking of Modified Ride-On Car Usage in Young Children With Disabilities. J Mot Learn Dev.2019 Dec;7(3):336-53.
Cunha, A. B., Orlando, J., Alghamdi, Z. S., & Lobo, M. A. (2024): Depth and Quality of Recommendations in Popular Sources About How to Play with Infants: Content Analysis. Physical & Occupational Therapy In Pediatrics, DOI: 10.1080/01942638.2024.2371807

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Andrea Baraldi Cunha, MMI Physical Therapy Department
Physical Therapy Department
Play Lab

Education and Child Development

Department: Education and Child Development

In Collaboration with local community partners, a video-based education intervention entitled CARE (Considerations for Advocacy, Resources and Empowerment during New Transitions) has been created to improve breastfeeding self-efficacy upon return-to-work after childbirth. These videos will be housed on the Nebraska Extension website. Our first step in this project is to pilot the video education with 25 postpartum parents upon their return to work. Participation will include access to a website with video modules, a breastfeeding goal worksheet and online resource links. Participants will be surveyed via an electronic survey before and after receiving the education materials via an online survey. Participants will also be asked to engage in a follow-up interview 1 month after receiving the education materials. The student would be responsible for contacting participants, sending study materials and completing follow up phone interviews.

Preferred Skills:

Comfortable talking on the telephone, basic survey data analysis and transcription of interviews.

integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (iCASD)

Program: Autism Care for Toddlers Clinics

Various projects are conducted across the two clinics and descriptions of each can be provided if the student has interest. Our team conducts research and clinical work on improving the efficacy and efficiency of instruction for young children with autism spectrum disorders. Some of our current work includes investigating variables that impact behavior analytic skill acquisition including early communication skills, imitation training and assigning stimuli to sets for training. We also investigate treatment team member (i.e., caregiver, teachers, staff, community member) involvement in behavior analytic service delivery for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and the treatment integrity of the inventions provided.

Halbur, M., Preas, E., Carroll, R., Judkins, M., Rey, C., & Crawford, M. (2023). A comparison of fixed and repetitive models to teach object imitation to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 56(3), 674-686.https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.993
Preas, E., Carroll, R. A., Van Den Elzen, G., Halbur, M., & Harper, M. (2023). Evaluating the use of video modeling with voiceover instructions to train therapists to deliver caregiver training through telehealth. Behavior Modification, 47(2), 402-431.https://doi.org/10.1177/014544552211119

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Mary Halbur, MMI iCASD Department
Dr. Regina Carroll, MMI iCASD Department
Autism Care for Toddlers Clinics

Program: Early Intervention

We are teaching several skills to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to assess what skills are necessary for a child to answer different questions about a picture. For example, if the child is shown a blue-star, can they answer "What color?" and "What shape?" with the correct answer, or do they only say the color.

Preferred Skills:

Participants who are organized, have time-management skills, and are familiar with PowerPoint and Excel are preferred.

Weekly Commitment: 5-10 hours

We are looking for individuals with availability Monday through Friday, between 9-4:30 p.m., to assist with data collection at MMI. Research sessions take about 30 minutes and will be either in the morning or afternoon.

Location: Munroe-Meyer Institute

Rey, C. N., Kurti, A. N., Badger, G. J., Cohen, A. H., & Heil, S. H. (2019). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy support: Comparing behavior analysts’ views about drug addiction and mental illness. Behavior Analysis in Practice,12(4), 758-766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00345-6
Rey, C. N., Betz, A. M., Sleiman, A. A., Kuroda, T., & Podlesnik, C. A. (2020). Adventitious reinforcement during long-duration DRO exposure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 53(3), 1674-1687. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.697
Halbur, M., Preas, E., Carroll, R., Judkins, M., Rey, C., Crawford, M., (in press). A comparison of fixed and repetitive models to teach object imitation to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.993

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Nicole Rodriguez, MMI iCASD Department
Send an Email to our iCASD team
Early Intervention Program

Program: Early Intervention

Our team conducts research and clinical work on improving the efficacy and efficiency of instruction for children with autism spectrum disorders. Some of our current work includes investigating variables that impact behavior analytic skill acquisition including early listener discrimination skills and communication of preferences. Descriptions of each project can be provided if a student has interest.

Rey, C. N., Kurti, A. N., Badger, G. J., Cohen, A. H., & Heil, S. H. (2019). Stigma, discrimination, treatment effectiveness, and policy support: Comparing behavior analysts’ views about drug addiction and mental illness. Behavior Analysis in Practice,12(4), 758-766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00345-6
Rey, C. N., Betz, A. M., Sleiman, A. A., Kuroda, T., & Podlesnik, C. A. (2020). Adventitious reinforcement during long-duration DRO exposure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 53(3), 1674-1687. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.697
Halbur, M., Preas, E., Carroll, R., Judkins, M., Rey, C., Crawford, M., (in press). A comparison of fixed and repetitive models to teach object imitation to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.993

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Catalina Rey, MMI iCASD Department
Send an Email to our iCASD team
Early Intervention Program

Severe Behavior

Our team is identifying the most efficient, safe and trauma-informed ways to assess and treat severe behaviors like aggression, self-injury, and property destruction. Participants in our research are individuals ages 3-19 with intellectual and developmental disabilities who display severe behaviors in home, school and/or the community.'

Preferred Skills:

Strong communication skills, ability to observe severe behavior live or via video with a neutral reaction, maintain patient confidentiality, openness to learning data collection and graphing techniques, interest in learning about the assessment and treatment process (hands-on clinical-research training available if interested).

Fahmie, T. A., Rodriguez, N. M., Luczynski, K. C., Rahaman, J. A., Charles, B. M., & Zangrillo, A. N. (2023). Toward an explicit technology of ecological validity. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 56(2), 302-322.
Melanson, I. J., & Fahmie, T. A. (2023). Functional analysis of problem behavior: A 40‐year review. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 56(2), 262-281.
Gatzunis, K. S., Weiss, M. J., Ala’i-Rosales, S., Fahmie, T. A., & Syed, N. Y. (2023). Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Functional Assessment Interviewing, Cultural Responsiveness, and Empathic and Compassionate Care to Students of Applied Behavior Analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1-27.

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Tara Fahmie, MMI Severe Behavior Disorders Department
Severe Behavior Department

Speech-Language Pathology

Augmentative and Alternative Communication Lab

Over 5 million people in the United States cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood. To improve their participation in society, augmentative and alternative communication strategies such as speech-generating apps on iPads, communication devices controlled by eye movements, and communication boards can be used; however, learning and using these tools in not always an easy or intuitive process.

Current research in MMI’s Speech-Language Pathology Department focuses on developing and evaluating augmentative and alternative communication tools, trainings, and processes to improve the participation of people with limited speech during healthcare encounters, community activities, and conversations with their communication partners. These research efforts focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and user-centered design to enhance clinical translation.

Fager, S.K., Sorenson, T., Jakobs, E., Koester, H., Jakobs, T., Beukelman, D.R. (2023). Multi-modal access method (eye-tracking + switch-scanning) for individuals with severe motor impairment: A preliminary investigation. Assistive Technology, 35(4), 321-329. DOI: 1080/10400435.2022.2053895
Gormley, J., McNaughton, D., & Light, J. (2023). Supporting children’s communication of choices during inpatient rehabilitation: Effects of a mobile training for health care providers. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 32, 545-564. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_ajslp-22-00200
Gormley, J., & Koch Fager, S. (2021). Personalization of patient-provider communication across the lifespan. Topics in Language Disorders, 41, 249-268, https://doi.org/10.1097/TLD.0000000000000255

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Susan Fager, MMI Speech-Language Pathology Department

Dr. Jessica Gormley, MMI Speech-Language Pathology Department

Speech-Language Pathology Department

Emotional Neuroscience Research Laboratory

Research Program

The projects in our lab investigate anxiety, behaviors and brain networks that lead to the development or maintenance of anxiety. Our studies are investigating anxiety networks in youth, and also focus on anxiety in the context of alcohol use disorders. We use a variety of methods, including clinical phenotyping, behavioral measures, physiological measures and neuroimaging methods (brain function and connectivity).

Flook EA, Feola B, Benningfield MM, Silveri MM, Winder DG, Blackford JU. Alterations in BNST Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Early Abstinence from Alcohol Use Disorder. Alcohol Alcohol. 2023 May 9;58(3):298-307. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agad006. PMID: 36847484; PMCID: PMC10168710.
Feola B, Melancon SNT, Clauss JA, Noall MP, Mgboh A, Flook EA, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala responses to unpredictable threat in children. Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Dec;63(8):e22206. doi: 10.1002/dev.22206. PMID: 34813095; PMCID: PMC8849085.
Clauss JA, Avery SN, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Social anxiety is associated with BNST response to unpredictability. Depress Anxiety. 2019 Aug;36(8):666-675. doi: 10.1002/da.22891. Epub 2019 Apr 6. PMID: 30953446; PMCID: PMC6679811.
Avery SN, Clauss JA, Blackford JU. The Human BNST: Functional Role in Anxiety and Addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016 Jan;41(1):126-41. doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.185. Epub 2015 Jun 24. PMID: 26105138; PMCID: PMC4677124.
Clauss JA, Seay AL, VanDerKlok RM, Avery SN, Cao A, Cowan RL, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. Structural and functional bases of inhibited temperament. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Dec;9(12):2049-58. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu019. Epub 2014 Feb 3. PMID: 24493850; PMCID: PMC4249486.

Interested individuals can contact the project lead or the department/program performing the research.

Dr. Jennifer Blackford, Director, MMI Research Program
Email Katelyn Kelley , Lab Manager
Emotional Neuroscience Research Lab

Katelyn Kelley, BS

Lab Manager, Emotional Neuroscience Research Laboratory

Send Email