For students who are interested in participating in language development or speech perception research, the Language Development Laboratory provides you the opportunity to gain valuable research skills, learn more about how children learn language, and to have closer interactions with faculty and other students with similar interests. (You can also work in our sister lab, the Canine Language Perception Lab, at the same time!)
Students can participate through the Office of Undergraduate Research, through PULSAR or REACH, through departmental honors (in multiple departments), or can receive pass/fail credit in HESP or some other departments, working under the supervision of Dr. Newman. The laboratory also accepts summer interns for students wishing to gain research experience outside of the academic year. You do not need to be a student at the University of Maryland to participate in the lab; we accept community volunteers and high school interns, as well as students from other univerisities. Students will assist in:
The focus is on breadth of research experience, so students participate in all of the projects the lab is working on in a given semester (rather than being assigned to a single project) - usually this involves at least 10 different studies per semester.
However, advanced students have the opportunity to develop their own independent research project in addition or instead of general lab participation. To help put the lab's research into a broader perspective, students participate in bimonthly lab meetings involving critical readings and discussion of recent research in the field.
Students are expected to work in the lab for a minimum of 6 hours a week. Lab positions tend to fill quickly, as students in the lab typically choose to continue for multiple semesters. If you are interested in participating in lab research, please contact Dr. Newman at rnewman1@umd.edu.