The Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education (IGE) conducts multidisciplinary and comparative research engaging policymakers, practitioners, and institutional leaders. Our research serves to inform efforts to expand opportunities, reduce barriers, and improve the well being of immigrant-origin children, youth and young adults.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for motivated, detail-oriented, and hard-working undergraduates to join our lab. You can join our lab in two ways:

(1) join an active lab project

Active Projects

  • Social Belonging – This project seeks to understand how Latinx youth are navigating their own sense of belonging, as they react to exclusionary practices, in multiple spaces of belonging (e.g., schools, after-school programs, faith-based spaces, in sports teams, etc).

2) develop your own independent study (more details below). As a research assistant, some duties may include: recruiting participants, data entry, database management, coding, and processing data.

If you develop your own study, a graduate student, along with an available IGE Faculty Director, will help guide you to: design and create your own study, recruit participants, develop tools, and analyze and write results. Please be aware that there are only limited spaces for those interested in creating their own independent study. We usually take about 2-4 student projects per academic year.

Compensation: Course Credit and Research Programs

Typically, students working on active projects work in the lab through course credit via enrollment in an independent study course through Education, Psychology, or related major (EDU 99: Student Research Program; PSYC 199A/B: Directed Independent Research in Psychology, etc.), or through a Summer Undergraduate Research Program (e.g. CSU Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship).

Students who are interested in developing their own project can either (1) sign up for PSYC 199A/B or equivalent, or (2) be part of an undergraduate research program (e.g., McNair Scholars Program). We also welcome you to apply for a volunteer research assistantship in the lab as a third option.

We require a two quarter commitment to maintain consistency among research assistants. If you are working in the lab in exchange for Independent Study credit and only wish to obtain credit for one term, you may volunteer for the other term. Typically, we ask that you work approximately 10 hours per week. This can often fluctuate across the course of a term and depending on which project(s) you are involved in, but we work closely with students to create a schedule that works for everyone involved. If taking for-credit, you will receive a letter grade for your work.

Previous Experience

While any previous academic and research experience would be an excellent asset to your application (please indicate as much), we welcome all applications from individuals who show sincere interest in getting involved in the IGE lab. Enthusiasm and commitment are assets we highly value, and strive to maintain an environment that is collaborative and productive. As a result, we expect research assistants to respect, value, and participate in the research process.