Department of Psychology
Undergraduate Advising Office

Click here to see a video about the course!

Transform your research capabilities with cutting-edge AI tools that work as your intelligent research partner. Master the art of AI-powered scientific discovery using a variety of AI-tools, including: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to accelerate literature reviews, enhance data analysis, and elevate your writing in psychology research. Through hands-on projects spanning behavioral, clinical, educational, or engineering domains, you'll conceive, design and execute graduate-level research from concept to publication draft. Small teams will collaborate on real-world challenges in mini-research projects on how to train humans to work in human+AI assistant teams. By the end of the course, you will have completed a research project using AI tools and developed a hybrid skillset that research institutions and innovative companies actively seek, and that will position you competitively in today’s job market.

Meeting times Tuesdays 4:00-5:50, Thursday 4:00-4:50

Class objectives

• Get you to be an expert user of AI and work in human + AI teams in behavioral research projects
• Learn behavioral research methods with your own AI Personal assistant
• Working in small teams that you can:
• Review the literature for a research project
• Design a behavioral empirical assessments of AI use and how to train more effective use
• Execute the experiments collect the data
• Choose and perform statistical analyses (with AI assistance)
• Write up the experiment in APA style for submission
• Do PowerPoint presentations of the work

Are you interested in enrolling in a course but would like more information about the focus, structure, or requirements for it? The Department of Psychology has begun to collect and make available most current syllabi on our website for your reference. We will update this list each term as new courses are offered.

Every student’s journey comes with unique challenges. The Care and Resource Support Office is here to be your compass—connecting you with services and solutions tailored to your needs.

Pitt Care & Resource Support

If you are planning to attend the Psychology RA Panel, we ask that you please RSVP here so that we can have a headcount for refreshments. However, students who do not RSVP are still welcome to attend!

We are excited to announce our research training program for undergraduates, funded by the National Science Foundation, REU Site: Translating Research in Psychological Sciences to the Real World. The program starts on June 8, 2026, and lasts for 8 weeks.

Undergraduate students must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or U.S. permanent residents and enrolled in a degree program (part-time or full-time) leading to a baccalaureate or associate degree.

The REU program targets undergraduates with interests or majors in psychological and social sciences, neuroscience, behavioral health science, engineering, computer science, math, kinesiology, and biomechanics. All students who are interested in research and who plan to go to graduate school are encouraged to apply. Candidates must have junior or senior standing when the REU Site starts, be in good academic standing, and have a GPA of at least 3.3.

Our website has details about the program and how to apply: http://pd28.blogs.rice.edu/

Have you completed a research paper in a psychology-related field (i.e. psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, linguistics)? Are you looking for a platform to publish your work?

If so, The Undergraduate Research Journal of Psychology at UCLA (URJP) WANTS YOU to submit your papers for our annual publication, expected to be released Spring 2026.

URJP is an organization dedicated to informing the community of psychological findings through research run by undergraduates from all over the world. Last year, we received submissions from both local and international universities. URJP is one of the few established psychology journals that publishes undergraduate psychological research.

Submitted papers must fulfill the requirements below:

• Original work completed by undergraduates (Includes senior honors theses, independent research, reviews, theoretical papers, and other scholarly writing);
• Never before been published.
• Find more details about submission criteria here

If you have not completed an independent research project, we still encourage you to apply by submitting a “literature review article” which does not require access to original research data.

The deadline to submit papers is December 5, 2025 at 11:59 P.M. PST. Multiple submissions from one author are welcome. If you would like to submit an article for consideration, please complete the following:

• Read our submission criteria to ensure that you are complying with our rules.
• Visit our website's eScholarship portal to submit. Here you will be able to upload your work.
• Once you have completed that, please fill out the form  linked on the submission page

More information regarding our publication can be found on our website, https://urjp.psych.ucla.edu/. To view our prior publications, please visit our website at https://urjp.psych.ucla.edu/publications/.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at psychjournal.ucla@gmail.com for further information. We look forward to reviewing your submissions!

Interested students are invited to apply to partner with the Office of Undergraduate Research as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in the Spring 2026 First Approaches to Research classroom. UTAs make valuable contributions to the FA-R seminar classroom and receive one academic internship credit for their semester’s work through ARTSC 1900.

Current undergraduate students can apply online for a spring UTA position using this link: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1yPA7vRNnG39T3o

Priority consideration will be given to students who apply prior to November 21, 2025.

Students should direct questions about the Spring 2026 UTA opportunity or application process to Laura Nelson, LSN9@pitt.edu.

Supervising Faculty: Tom Kamarck, Ph.D.

Contact: Dr. Kamarck, tkam@pitt.edu

Area of Research: Biological and Health Psychology

Description of Research: This is a collaborative project with Dr. Lindsay, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, that examines the effects of a smartphone-based mindfulness intervention on stress exposure and biological stress responsiveness during daily life. We are recruiting 105 research volunteers who have high blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and who are experiencing high levels of psychological stress. Participants are randomly assigned to a one-month smartphone-based mindfulness intervention or a control condition, and their daily life experiences and ambulatory blood pressure are monitored at baseline, after the completion of the intervention, and during a three-month follow-up visit.

Duties of Students: Students will be involved in a number of duties in the laboratory, including contacting interested participants, training participants in ambulatory monitoring methods, data collection and interviewing with research volunteers, data management, assisting with the preparation of research materials, and conducting literature searches. Students will have an opportunity to interact with research volunteers, to be involved in the data collection process, and to learn about the principles of clinical research. Students will attend weekly research meetings where they will learn about the collection of ambulatory behavioral and biological data, and they will be exposed to ongoing research projects in the laboratory group. Each student will complete a paper or presentation by the end of a 2-semester period, with the possibility of participating in a poster presentation in the spring term.

More details about directed research opportunities found here. 

Supervising Faculty: Dr. Joel Le Forestier

Contact: Lab Manager (IIRLAB@pitt.edu)

Area of Research: Social psychology; intergroup relations; diversity science; self & identity; social-psychological interventions

Description of Research: In the Identity & Intergroup Relations Lab, we research interactions between members of different social groups (e.g., gay people and straight people, Black people and White people, etc.), what makes these interactions go well, what makes them not go well, and what we can do to improve them. We also research the outcomes that follow from these interactions, particularly for members of minoritized groups (e.g., disparities in health and wellbeing, identity threat, etc.). Current projects in the lab examine when and why people choose to reveal or conceal their stigmatized identities, and what the downstream effects of prejudice reduction interventions are for minoritized-group members.
We are looking for organized, reliable, collaborative, and energetic psychology students to join the lab! Students will have the opportunity to learn about, and participate in, multiple phases of the psychological research process. Students will take on a mix of independent and collaborative work and will also attend biweekly lab meetings where they will interact with other lab members, present, and give feedback on, work being done in the lab, and participate in journal club-style meetings.
To learn more about the lab and the research we do, visit the lab website: www.joelleforestier.com

Duties of Students: Specific tasks will vary by semester and by student, and efforts will be made to match students with tasks that are relevant to their interests and goals. In general, participant recruitment, data collection, literature review, transcribing and coding video recordings of participant interactions, assisting with developing study materials and procedures, and attending lab meetings will be common tasks.

Students will be trained on the responsible and ethical conduct of research and on all tasks relevant to their duties. We consider Directed Research Opportunities to be training positions, and while we look for applicants with strong potential and enthusiasm, we do not expect that students will enter the lab already having expertise in the tasks we will assign. Rather, we expect that students will develop relevant expertise with the lab’s support.

The anticipated time commitment is approximately 8 hours per week (for 3 credits). Students wishing to take a lower number of credits can also be considered.

More details about directed research opportunities found here.

September 5, 2025       Add/drop ends
September 12, 2025     Extended drop ends
September 22, 2025     Grade option (S/NC) deadline
October 24, 2025          Monitored withdrawal deadline
October 27, 2025          Spring term 2026 enrollment begins
December 5, 2025        Last day of classes

Announcements will run bi-weekly throughout the summer.