REU Site: Michigan Summer Program in Cognition and Early Development (MSPICED)

该项目由SBE理事会的本科生研究经验（REU）站点计划资助，并由国防部与NSF REU计划合作支持。它具有科学和社会效益，并将研究和教育相结合。这个暑期实习项目旨在教育本科生，让他们亲身体验心理学研究是如何进行的，并帮助他们培养科学方面的专业技能。发展科学是心理学的一个领域，它关注的是面对动态变化的现实的儿童的发展，而教师、家长和政策制定者正经历着做出影响全球儿童的快速决策的日益增长的需求。为了支持他们，发展科学推进了以证据为基础的促进儿童发展和福祉的理论和实践。因此，对于许多专业的个人来说，通过积极参与最先进的发展科学研究，获得使用和解释科学发现的技能是至关重要的。为了帮助实现这些教育目标，每年将有7名本科生实习生参加为期10周的暑期实习项目，其中包括(1)实践研究——参与积极的实证研究项目，由在本科生参与研究方面有良好记录的教师直接监督；(2)教学模块，提供高级行为和神经科学方法的培训，并培养使用最先进统计软件的编程技能；以及(3)专业发展培训，指导学术写作，向公众传播科学，以及如何写强研究生院申请科学事业。招聘的重点是不同群体的本科生，包括那些来自规模较小的大学和学院的学生，他们没有机会在自己的机构参与积极的心理学研究。因此，通过一些组织和数据库的招聘机制，优先考虑代表性不足的少数民族学生和第一代大学生，这些组织和数据库可以达到这些目标人群。通过与密歇根大学的教职员工和研究生合作，暑期实习生积极参与以幼儿认知发展为重点的发展科学的具体项目。作为行为和神经科学研究的一部分，实习生收集和分析科学数据。他们学习如何撰写和展示科学研究，包括学术写作和统计数据分析，以及在心理学系和科学会议上的海报展示。此外，通过与密歇根州安娜堡当地博物馆的合作，实习生将学习如何与更广泛的公众进行科学交流。更广泛的影响是打破界限，增强他们成为科学家的决心。除了他们的主要研究项目外，实习生还参加每周的会议和正式的培训课程，向他们介绍发展科学的核心原则和该学科的职业道路。专业培训模块、指导协议、针对实习生短期和长期职业目标的评估工具，以及帮助实习生进一步发展职业的校友网络，所有这些都旨在促进多元化和包容性，不仅在招聘方面，而且在促进REU网站实习生的长期成功方面。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate and is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. This summer internship program aims to educate undergraduate students by giving them first-hand experience in how psychological research is conducted and help them develop professional skills in science. Developmental science is a field of psychology concerned with the development of children who are facing a dynamically changing reality while teachers, parents, and policy makers are experiencing heightened demand for making rapid decisions affecting children world-wide. To support them, developmental science advances evidence-based theory and practice of promoting child development and well-being. Therefore, it is critical for individuals of many professions to gain the skill-sets for using and interpreting scientific findings through active participation in state-of-the-art developmental science research. To help with these educational goals, each year 7 undergraduate interns will participate in a 10-week summer internship program that includes (1) hands-on research-participation in active empirical research projects, directly supervised by faculty with a strong track-record of involving undergraduates in their research, (2) teaching modules to offer training in advanced behavioral and neuroscience methods and develop programming skills for using state-of-the-art statistics software, and (3) professional development training to tutor academic writing, science communication to the public, and how to write strong graduate school applications for a career in science. Recruitment is focused on a diverse group of undergraduates, including those from smaller universities and colleges that do not have the opportunity to be involved in active psychological research at their home institutions. Therefore, priority is given to under-represented minority students and first-generation college students through several recruitment mechanisms with organizations and databases that reach these target populations. By working collaboratively with faculty members and graduate students at the University of Michigan, summer interns become actively involved in pursuing specific projects in developmental science focused on the cognitive development of young children. The interns collect and analyze scientific data as part of behavioral and neuroscience studies. They learn how to write and present scientific research, including academic writing and statistical data analysis, as well as poster presentations at the Department of Psychology and scientific conferences. Moreover, through collaborations with local museums in Ann Arbor, Michigan, interns will learn about science communication with the greater public. The broader impact of this is to break down boundaries and strengthen their resolve in becoming scientists themselves. In addition to their primary research project, interns participate in weekly meetings and formal training sessions introducing them to core tenets of developmental science and career paths in the discipline. Professional training modules, a mentoring agreement, assessment tools for the interns’ short-term and long-term professional goals, and an alumni network to help with further career steps all aim to promote diversity and inclusion not only in recruitment, but in fostering long-term success of the interns of this REU site.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.