Undergraduate research training in psychology serves several essential functions, including professionalizing students within the boundaries and expectations for the discipline, helping them to develop their critical thinking and research skills, and helping them to truly grasp the scientific basis of the discipline (Behar-Horenstein, Roberts, & Dix, 2010; Brewer, Dewhurst, & Doran, 2012; Van Vliet, Klingle, & Hiseler, 2013). Although several sources have described the opportunities, barriers, and recommended procedures for supervising undergraduate research assistants, the vast majority of these reports focus on large research universities wherein undergraduate research assistants typically work in a lab along with graduate students who may occasionally serve as their primary supervisors (e.g., Evans, Perry, Kras, Gale, & Campbell, 2009; Morales, Grineski, & Collins, 2017; Thiry & Laursen, 2011). Moreover, several of these accounts focus broadly on other STEM fields (e.g., Behar-Horenstein et al., 2010; Morales et al., 2017; Thiry & Laursen) rather than on the more specific needs of emerging scientists in clinical, counseling, or other applied health areas of psychology. Our purpose here is to describe a model of mentorship for supervising undergraduate researchers at a small liberal arts college (SLAC) and share the perspective of a faculty supervisor as well that of a (former) undergraduate student. Although there are various opportunities to mentor undergraduate psychology researchers through classroom instruction in research design/analysis, or supervision of independent studies and honors projects, we focus here on one particular model--the student-faculty collaborative research model--and review strategies, recommendations, and the impact of this approach on the student's development and on the faculty mentor's research program.

Ambwani, Suman, and Alyssa Minnnick. Mentoring Emerging Clinical Scientists While Maintaining Scholarly Productivity at a Small Liberal Arts College. the Behavior Therapist 42, no. 4 (2019): 97-102.

Suman Ambwani is a professor of Psychology at Dickinson College.

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