My specific area of research is examining differences in stress response, particularly pain response. Being a part of the Culture, Relationships, and Health Laboratory with Belinda Campos Ph.D., I am able to explore how different sociocultural contexts, specifically ethnicity and culture, affect pain response. However, for UROP, I am interested in how baseline cortisol levels and baseline heart rate variability affect pain sensitivity.

I became involved in research my junior year and found out about the opportunity from one of my professors, Dr. Zinger. She had posted about the research assistant position on her class website.

Research has allowed me to figure out what I want to do as a career. I had recently decided that I didn't want to continue pursuing medical school and was unsure of my career goals. Once I joined research, I realized that I could earn my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and eventually work with people with severe mental disorders.

My favorite experience with research was when I was able to gain an internship due to my experience in my lab at UCI. I interviewed with researchers at UCSF and they were very impressed that I was working with Dr. Belinda Campos. I was picked for the highly selective summer research internship and was able to work with Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes in San Francisco.

My future plans are to apply for Ph.D. programs in Clinical Psychology. Being involved in research has allowed me to gain experience in research, making me a competitive applicant for graduate school. I'll be more prepared as a graduate student and will hopefully be able to run my own studies from my acquired knowledge as an undergraduate student.

My advice would be to never be afraid to ask questions. Many faculty-mentors would be happy to answer questions regarding research and have years of knowledge about your field. If you have a graduate student helping with the project, use and listen to their advice as well. Most graduate students were recently in your shoes and understand how difficult it is to construct a research project.