As another academic year comes to a close, one student prepares to use her summer to pave the way to her dream career.
Psychology major Samantha Redig was recently accepted into a summer research internship program in the developmental psychology department at John Hopkins University.
Redig said John Hopkins was at the top of her list because of the unique research they are conducting. According to Redig, the developmental psychology department at John Hopkins is involved in research no one else has begun.
“They have a really good program,” Redig said. “Their child lab works with kids, and they have been doing research no one else is doing, such as finding out whether babies have a number sense before they even know numbers.”
As part of the internship, Redig will work each week in the child lab, as well as recruit participants for studies in the areas of memory, cognition, math sense and attention span. Redig and the other students involved will have the opportunity to conduct their own studies, analyze the data and present their findings.
Redig said her goal is to build a better knowledge of research methods during her time at John Hopkins, as well as knowledge to prepare her for her future in psychology.
“I hope to be able to know how to conduct research in a method that is pure because it’s hard to get that kind of experience,” Redig said. “Also, I hope to learn from those who are teaching us. They have a lot of knowledge, so I hope to step into their field and be able to understand it for what it is and be able to take away my interpretation of it.”
Along with experience, Redig said the internship will also help her when the time comes to apply to graduate school. After graduate school, Redig’s plans are to pursue her Ph.D. and enter into a career in developmental psychology.
“I’ve been looking at developmental psychology as a field to go into because I want to be able to study how people develop as they age and what we can be doing to understand that effectively in order to educate and figure out if there’s things we don’t know,” Redig said.
Redig said her interest in psychology began long before she came to study at Oklahoma Christian University. Redig said she has always been drawn to understanding human behavior.
“I first wanted to get into psychology because I have a real interest in studying human behavior,” Redig said. “I learned I’m very interested in research, so psychology was a natural fit.”
Redig said among her other psychology professors at Oklahoma Christian, Professor of Psychology and Family Studies Tina Winn has made a lasting impact on her.
“Dr. Winn has been the biggest mentor to me,” Redig said. “She is always there to talk to me. I told her about the internship and she was so encouraging. She really pushed me to apply, and she is always there to help us figure out exactly what we want to do.”
Winn said Redig possesses key attributes crucial to achieving success in the field of psychology.
“She is a systematic thinker,” Winn said. “She looks at and can break things into parts, which is very important in psychology. You want to be able to take complex things and break them into parts.”
According to Winn, not only will Redig’s internship with John Hopkins give her experience, but it will also set her above other students in her department.
“It’s at a prestigious university program, and she will be in contact with leaders in the field who will have a tremendous amount of knowledge and contacts,” Winn said. “The fact that she is able to go to a place like John Hopkins and have this experience on her resume will get people to look at her.”
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