What kind of high impact learning experiences can you pursue as a CofC PSYC major? Leslie Sawyer ’16 pursued research opportunities in multiple labs during and after her undergraduate study at CofC. She is now a first-year PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of South Florida. She works in a lab affiliated with Moffitt Cancer Center where she studies e-cigarettes and works on a smoking cessation program utilizing low-nicotine cigarettes.
Leslie credits CofC PSYC and her mentors with opportunities to gain research experience and develop her professional goals. She received research grants from CofC’s office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA), and she presented findings from her bachelor’s essay (BE) in a symposium at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. She also presented at several poster sessions (i.e., SYNAPSE, Frontiers in Neuroscience, & Neuropalooza). Leslie says, “I had such wonderful instructors in the psychology department that I took as many courses as I could. I added the neuroscience minor because I wanted to learn even more about the field. My overall experience at CofC was awesome; however, the psychology department is where I found the spark that ignited a whole new direction. I had excellent instructors who shaped my love of psychology. Upon graduation, I was awarded Departmental Honors and the Outstanding Student Award; those awards mean so much to me because of the department from which they were awarded.”
Leslie became fascinated with behavior theory in Dr. Chad Galuska’s Conditioning and Learning course. A visit to his office hours turned into an offer to work on an independent study. Leslie later earned a SURF grant to work full-time for a summer conducting behavior analytic research on drinking, and she earned a MAYS grant to conduct her BE. Between undergraduate and graduate school, Leslie continued to work with Dr. Galuska and co-authored a manuscript based on the experiments from her BE. It was published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior in January 2017. Leslie says, “Dr. Galuska facilitated so many opportunities for me from the moment I expressed that I wanted to learn more. I loved conducting behavior analytic research in the “G Lab!” Dr. Galuska, as a course instructor and mentor, taught me so much about the process of research and behavior theory.”
Dr. Adam Doughty served as Leslie’s “unofficial” adviser; she credits him with helping her learn research techniques, behavior theory, academic writing, how to apply to graduate school, and even that jalapeno is the best flavor of kettle chips. After proposing the research idea in his conditioning and learning lab course, Leslie began working with Dr. Doughty on an independent study so that she could pursue her research question from class. Over the course of two independent studies, they investigated processes of resurgence (i.e., relapse).
Leslie’s passion for clinical psychology was sparked in Dr. Sarah Robertson’s courses on Abnormal Psychology and Foundations of Psychotherapy. Leslie says, “I was intrigued by the material in both courses. However, one day she shared with the class what she called her “winning trifecta: teaching, research, and clinical work.” From that moment, I knew that was my trifecta too!” Following her graduation, Leslie began working with Dr. Sarah Robertson as a research assistant on an expressive writing study. Leslie says, “I learned so much from that experience, including that I absolutely had to apply to graduate school in clinical psychology! She inspired my career goal to become a clinical psychologist years before when she was my instructor. However, that lab experience was my first time working in a clinical psychology lab and it solidified my commitment to pursue clinical research and practice.”