By joining Psychology research labs, undergraduates have a unique opportunity to get involved in the innovation and discovery happening at UW-Madison.
Psychology research labs at UW-Madison are led by faculty (sometimes called principal investigators or PIs) and cover a broad range of sub-areas within the field: biology, brain, & behavior; clinical psychology; cognition & cognitive neuroscience; developmental psychology; perception; and social & personality psychology. Psychology labs at UW-Madison focus on different species (humans and other animals) and ages (from infants to aging adults).
FINDING A LAB TO JOIN
To learn more about our faculty research interests, please visit the Research Overview page. The Research Overview provides detailed information about Psychology’s six areas of concentration and allows students to see which faculty members conduct research in each area. Students can click on faculty to learn more about their research area(s) and access their lab websites.
Students should view these Undergraduate Research Opportunities – Tips to learn more about applying to join research labs.
Students can find a complete list of Psychology Department and Psychology-affiliated* labs here: contact/application information for research labs. This link contains a sheet indicating whether a lab is currently working with Psychology undergraduate students. Additionally, the sheet provides information about how to join different labs.
*Psychology affiliates are members of other Departments (besides Psychology). All Psychology affiliates can work with Psychology undergraduates in the context of research for credit and/or thesis projects.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Opportunities to earn course credit: Psychology faculty members and affiliated faculty typically have opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research in their labs each semester. Detailed information about which labs have openings and how students can apply can be found here: contact/application information for research labs.
Notes regarding course credit: For each credit a student is enrolled in they are required to work approximately 3 hours a week. So, if a student enrolls in 3 credits, they are expected to work approximately 9-10 hours a week. Different labs have different policies on meeting times and work hours so it is important to discuss this with the lab manager or faculty member.
Prerequisites: Enrollment in all undergraduate independent study/research courses requires consent of the instructor. Individual labs may have additional course or GPA pre-requisites to apply to their labs. Check here for more information: contact/application information for research labs.
Important Note: Undergraduate research positions are exclusively for students enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You must be a current UW-Madison student to apply to work in a Psychology research lab.
