Katherine Marie Zinsser

    Email Address: kzinsser@uic.edu
    College: Liberal Arts and Sciences Department: Psychology
    Title: Assistant Professor
    Office: BSB 1050D Phone: 312.996.4594
    Webpage: http://setl.psch.uic.edu/
    Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes

    Research Interest:
    The Social Emotional Teaching and Learning (SETL) lab is currently engaged in a wide range of projects with many more on the horizon. In general, our work focuses on the following areas: applied developmental psychology, early childhood education, social emotional development, emotion socialization, measurement development, teacher evaluation and professional development, classroom quality, educational leadership, school readiness, Head Start, evidence based policy and practice. More details about individual projects and recent publications/presentations can be found on the website.

    Please Note: Dr. Zinsser typically interviews students in May for the following Fall semester and in December for the following Spring semester.

    Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 6

    Qualifications of a Student:
    In order to work in the SETL Lab, I expect that you maintain at least a 3.0 GPA, demonstrate social and emotional competence in your collaboration with fellow researchers, and enjoy working with young children, families, and educators.

    Students who have completed PSCH 100 Introduction to Psychology & PSCH 242 Introduction to Research in Psychology will be well prepared for this opportunity. Preference will be given to students who can make a two semester commitment.

    The research we will engage in will likely be of most interest to psychology, education, and other social science majors, but students from all majors are welcome to apply.

    Students interested in eventually pursuing an honors capstone project and/or attending graduate school in psychology (or a related social science) are especially encouraged to apply.

    Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
    Students working in the SETL Lab will be involved in a variety of activities depending on the semester and individual interests. These may include:

    - Being trained in the administration of social emotional and school readiness assessments.
    - Going to local preschool classrooms to collect classroom video and/or pilot assessment tools with preschoolers.
    - Assisting with recruitment of families and teachers for upcoming research projects.
    - Coding qualitative and quantitative data.
    - Conducting literature searches on relevant topics in early childhood education and social emotional development.
    - Creating graphics and videos for use in recruitment and professional development training for teachers.
    - Reading and reflecting on current literature in the field.
    - Working alongside more senior lab members to conduct preliminary analyses.

    Students will be expected to attend bi-weekly lab meetings (scheduled each semester based on lab members class schedules) and write a short reflection paper at the end of each semester.

    NOTE: This researcher is currently not accepting applications for the Undergraduate Research Experience program.

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