Donald Chick

• SOAR Position: Member
• Major: Psychology
• Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. James Loveless and Dr. Tiffany Rogers

Current Focus: Comparison between blood pressure and health knowledge (Dr. Loveless) and Optogenetic behavior tasks with mice (Dr. Rogers)

Project Description

In Loveless' lab, we will have a new research project next semester. We will measure blood pressure of participants, and then we will administer surveys that measure their knowledge of general health. In Roger's lab, we will administer neurotransmitters through a cannula, and then the mice will be put through a variety of behavior tasks.

Why does this topic interest you?

These two topics highly interest me. I enjoy that I am able to apply my training in psychology in a direct way. Health psychology and neuropsychology are two fascinating topics that can always be researched and improved on. I love to see the hard sciences that go into psychology. It is also nice to see research with humans and participants.

What are your professional aspirations?

I am not completely sure what professional direction I want to take, but I certainly want to pursue research. Research is a very important pathway to be able to help people. It creates the bridges for providers in psychology and other health sciences

Do you have any advice for future researchers?

Talk to people! If you are interested in research, the best thing you can do is ask questions, whether you have discussions with your peers or professors. As a matter of fact, researchers typically love talking about their work. Research is an enormous field with so many different subjects, so there is literally something for everybody. It is both rewarding and exciting to find answers to questions that are unknown or underdeveloped.

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