Department: Speech and Hearing Sciences; Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Professors Greg Wallace, PhD; Lauren Kenworthy, PhD
The Project: Executive function (EF) is an omnibus term describing supramodal, higher-order cognitive abilities including working memory, planning, flexibility, and organization, all in the service of problem-solving and behavioral regulation. It is now well-established that EF skills are crucial to academic functioning in both typically developing children and at-risk youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, early EF skills, including working memory and inhibitory control, have been linked with school readiness during early development (Blair & Razza, 2007). Later developing EF skills also foster academic achievement as several studies now demonstrate that individual differences in EF performance are associated with individual differences in academic functioning during adolescence (Latzman et al., 2010).
Nevertheless, in spite of this robust evidence for linkage between EF skills and academic achievement in typically developing and at-risk youth, to date, very little evidence links these domains in the context of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This is particularly startling given that EF deficits based on both performance measures (e.g., McLean et al., 2014) and ratings scales (e.g., Granader et al., 2014) are well-established in ASD and that several interventions (e.g., Unstuck and On Target! Kenworthy et al., 2014) have been developed to target EF difficulties in the service of reducing ASD (e.g., repetitive behavior and rigidity) symptoms and buttressing other (e.g., social-communication) skills.
This study will assess EF skills utilizing a battery of EF tasks (assessing working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, etc.) and examine their unique contributions (above and beyond IQ) to academic functioning, including reading and math. This study will include approximately 30 children with ASD and 30 typically developing controls matched on age (7-12 years old), IQ (>75), and sex ratio.
Tasks: The research assistant will help with a plethora of tasks including, but not limited to: gathering data/testing, data entry, data cleaning, data analysis, literature reviews, and writing.
Time Commitment/ Credit Hours: 4-6 hours per week; varies
To Apply: Please send a curriculum vitae or resume to Dr. Wallace at: gwallac1@gwu.edu
Category: Research Assistant Opportunity
African Diaspora Project [Research Assistantship]
Professor Yvonne Captain
The Project: Researching the whereabouts and movement (migration) of African Diaspora communities in the Americas, including those who are descendants of slaves in the United States. Of special interest is the migration of Creoles of Louisiana to other parts of the United States and to other regions of the Americas.
Tasks:
–Mine archival data as recent as last year or as early as the 1720s.
–Research will occur mostly through GW online access or physically at the Library of Congress and other local libraries
–possible transcription of interviews that the professor conducted with participants
Time Commitment/ Credit: 7-9 hours per week; 3 credit opportunity
Contact Address: ycaptain@gwu.edu
To Apply: Email me know of your interest. Prior knowledge of the African Diaspora is not necessary. No language requirement except good skills in the English language. Can be less hours if you prefer. Let me know so that I can hire more than one assistant.
–let me know when you are available to do the work
–either at end of spring semester or beginning of summer
A Reform to Help Congress Work Better [Research Assistantship]
Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
Professor Stuart Kasdin
The Project: This project involves historic research using the Congressional Record. The goal is to produce an academic paper, in which the student could receive shared authorship.
The paper would examine the potential impacts of a particular reform to the Congressional budget process: the reform is to merge appropriations and authorization committees. Presently, authorization committees design new programs, creating the terms for program spending (i.e., what a program aims to accomplish, who is eligible, and what they can receive), while the appropriation committees determine how much funding each program will receive. This proposal would do away with this long-standing bifurcation of responsibilities. Each newly designed committee would have a mix of mandatory and discretionary programs.
The greatest potential advantage of the reform proposal is to encourage greater productivity from the Congress. Because appropriations must be completed on an annual basis and because the funding process supports logrolling and ‘splitting the difference’, compromise is easier. The need to annually produce new budgets could encourage greater on-going cooperation, enhanced communication and trust, and less partisan posturing. In addition, the new committees would have all the relevant program spending (except tax expenditures) housed together. This would encourage increased allocative efficiency.
There are potential risks. One risk is that the appropriation bills would be later than usual, with partisanship from the authorization process spilling into appropriations. In addition, there is a risk of increased use of legislative riders and earmarks added to appropriation bills.
Because there are historical examples of congressional committees with combined authorization and appropriation responsibilities, we can get a better sense of the possible outcomes of the reform. Between 1879 and1885, the House of Representatives stripped the Appropriation Committee of its authority over rivers and harbors, agriculture, consular and diplomatic affairs, the military, the Post Office, and Indian affairs. In each of these areas the authorization committees gained the right to report appropriations. On the Senate side, by1899, a similarly broad swath of activities had been removed from the appropriator’s jurisdiction and placed under the responsibility of the relevant authorization committees. The Appropriation Committees only regained the responsibility for appropriations after the 1921 Budget and Accounting Act.
Research Assistant Tasks: You would examine the Congressional Record (which is on-line), comparing committees that made the change and combined authorization and appropriation functions, and committees that did not. In addition, the examination could cover the period of time several years before and after the changes in committee responsibilities. Some metrics to examine would include legislation introduced; public laws enacted and landmark, timeliness of appropriations, and a measure of altered appropriation bill content, such riders.
Time Commitment/Credit Hours: 4-6 hours per week (beginning Summer 2015); 2 credit option
Contact email: skasdin@gwu.edu
To Apply: Email a resume with major and a writing sample to the above address.
Strategic Behavior by Federal Agencies in the Allocation of Public Resources [Research Assistantship]
Department: Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
Professor Stuart Kasdin
Description: Our project examines how federal agencies respond when there is a change in the partisan control of Congress. Do government agencies allocate program resources so as to best accomplish program goals, without regard to the political party affiliations of those in Congress? Or, perhaps they favor districts represented by the President’s party, or favor any districts whose congressional representatives are positioned to support the agency. Also, across government do federal agencies react differently, responding with varied strategies to a changing political environment?
We will examine the role of government agencies in resource allocation choices, focusing on how federal government agencies responded to the 1994 election, when control of Congress shifted from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. In particular we will focus on the impact of the election on the agencies’ allocations of contracts. Do they respond to the election by allocating more contract resources to Republican districts?
Tasks: The student would do several things revolving primarily around data preparation. First, in a spreadsheet we need to determine the partisan affiliations of legislators in office in 1993 and in 1995. Next we need to get the data on contracts for a set of agencies. All of this data is available on-line. Subsequent data analysis will depend on the student’s quantitative background.
Time Commitment/ Credit Hour: 3 hours per week; 2 credit option
To Apply: Email a resume and relevant experience to skasdin@gwu.edu
Christian Zionism in American Thought [Research Assistantship]
Department: Political Science
Professor Samuel Goldman
The Project: This project is an attempt to understand why American Christians have historically expressed such strong support for the idea of a Jewish state in some portion of the Biblical promised land. Focusing on public arguments in books, pamphlets, and sermons, it traces the discourse of Christian Zionism from the Puritans to the present day. I pay special attention to claims that the United States has a special role to play in establishing/supporting such a state. According to Christian Zionists, how is America’s destiny intertwined with Israel’s?
Tasks: The research assistant will help with the following tasks:
1) Locating and collecting primary sources in internet and library searches.
2) Verifying quotes and citations.
3) Proofreading manuscripts.
Time Commitment/ Credits: 1-3 hours per week; 1 credit
Contact Email: swgoldman@gwu.edu
To Apply: Applicants should send an unofficial transcript and a short statement indicating their background for or interest in this project, as well as any prior research experience.
A Paid RA-ship for an Elliott School student
Hey Elliot School Students,
Check out this PAID Research Assistant Opportunity with Professor Christov!
Description: Prof. Christov is looking to hire a paid research assistant (5-7 hrs/per week) for the remainder of the current Spring semester (possibly extended through early summer, upon availability). The student must be enrolled in the Elliott School, have excellent research skills, and a willingness to work closely on a number of research projects. The bulk of the work will consist of reading articles and books on history and theory of International Relations and editing & indexing.
Individual interviews will be conducted this Friday afternoon, Feb 20 (or later for reasons of scheduling conflict). If interested, please contact Prof. Christov directly to set up an interview (christov@gwu.edu). Deadline: 12pm on Feb 20th.
Health Policy: Tuberculosis and Social Distancing [Research Assistantship]
Tuberculosis and the Use of Social Distancing in the United States
Professor Rebecca Katz
The Project: Globalization, changing human behaviors and the emergence of new pathogens create an ongoing vulnerability to disease threats. In the early days of communicable disease outbreaks or pandemics, social distancing tools may be the only interventions available to public health officials to mitigate the spread of disease. State and local public health officials’ use of social distancing tools in infection control varies widely, even when these measures may limit morbidity and mortality. Instituting social distancing requires legal authorities and financial resources, and may also be impacted by evidentiary standards, risk assessments, political will, and community and individual support. It is unclear exactly how these factors influence public health officials when making decisions to use social distancing tools or if any of these factors can be predicted. Yet, this knowledge is essential to understanding what actions are most likely to be instituted during a public health emergency and to target interventions to better prepare health departments to enact social distancing measures when necessary. The specific aims of the proposed research are: (1) to conduct case studies of health department experiences with tuberculosis (TB) isolation, (2) to assess the decision making process associated with social distancing, and (3) to determine predictive factors associated with decision making for social distancing.
Research Assistant Tasks:
– Check accuracy of previously-collected tuberculosis counts and case rates in local health jurisdictions in the U.S.
– Assist in the compilation of contextual information for a database of factors that may be important in local and state social distancing – this includes state and local demographic information, laws, and regulations
– Assist in the transcription and coding of case study interviews with local health department officials
– Assist in project-related administrative tasks
Time Commitment/Credit Hour Availibility: 4-6 hours per week/ 2.00 Credit Hours
Contact Email: avaught@gwu.edu
To Apply:
This Research Assistantship will start at the beginning of the Spring 2015 semester.
Please send your resume and include a cover letter in the body of your email detailing your interest in the position and the project, your relevant skills and coursework, and what you hope to gain from the experience.
Research Opportunity: Examining Judgment Bias and Social Perception
The following is an excerpt from a situation questionnaire designed to measure interpretation and judgment bias of social situations in people with social phobia. If you read this excerpt and think to yourself, “Wow, that answer is obvious!” this research opportunity might not be for you. If, however, you read it and consider a variety of options or postulate that your roommate/friend/mom/shy classmate’s answer might be different than yours, read on!
“You are introduced to a friend of one of your best friends. This new person doesn’t say anything to you.
Why isn’t this new person talking to you?” (IJQ; Voncken et al, 2003)
I can think of countless friends and family members who would approach and answer this question differently. This is why research in judgment and interpretation bias is so fun – anyone can relate to it and everyone has a different perspective. For my Master’s thesis, I’m examining the differences (if any) between people who do vs. do not stutter in terms of social perception, judgment and interpretation bias. When I was an undergraduate UHP student at GW, the UHP was an invaluable resource in helping me pursue my research interests. Now, as a graduate student, I’d like to offer a budding researcher the chance to gain some hands-on research experience.
Participation details:
Who: Undergraduate students with an interest in developing more research experience, particularly those with an interest in social dynamics, social perception, being social, or avoiding being social. Coursework may include (but is not limited to) Speech and Hearing Science, Psychology, Anthropology, and/or Linguistics.
What: Part-time Research Assistant position in a stuttering research lab directed by Dr. Shelley Brundage within the Speech and Hearing Science Department. Position is unpaid (sorry! poor graduate student over here!)
When: Fall 2014 and possibly Spring 2015 semesters. Flexible schedule. Weekly time commitment varies, estimated 4-6 hours.
Where: Dr. Brundage’s lab is located in the GW Speech and Hearing Center, conveniently located at the corner of 21st and G streets, within close proximity to free coffee and occasional food at the UHP!
If interested, please email Katie Winters at kwinters@gwmail.gwu.edu for more information.
Understanding White House's OIRA [Research Assistant]
Regulatory Policy
Professor Chris Carrigan and Professor Stuart Kasdin
Trachetenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
The Project: This research project is aimed at understanding the impact of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on the regulatory review process. We are analyzing both how OIRA’s preferences shape regulatory outcomes and when the agency is most influential in impacting the content of government regulations submitted by agencies. We will see when OIRA has the biggest impacts on new regulations and when it acts more as a pass-through. The student will also gain a familiarity with the federal legislative and regulatory processes and learn about the available public sources for information on federal regulations and legislation.
Research Assistant Tasks: The student’s work would assist this project by examining the underlying legislation upon which the regulations are based. The student would use legislative data sources and do “content analysis” on the bills, such as word counts of sections of the legislation as part of an estimate for the complexity of the underlying legislation. In addition, he or she might examine the regulatory impact analyses of the regulations to locate and describe the associated benefit-cost estimates.
Time Commitment: 7-9 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 1
Application Requirement: Send a resume to skasdin@gwu.edu
Contact Email: ccarrigan@email.gwu.edu, skasdin@gwu.edu
Investigating Ethical Issues [Research Assistant]
Ethical Issues in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty/Normalizing Bodies
Professor Gail Weiss
The Project:
Ethical Ambiguities in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty: Though the concept of ambiguity is central in both Beauvoir’s and Merleau-Ponty’s work, the connections between their respective views of ambiguity have not been sufficiently attended to in existing literature on both scholars. I am especially intrigued by the intersections in their work concerning how experiences of ambiguity affect not only ethics but meaning, freedom, intersubjectivity, politics, language, culture, nature, and the body. While numerous monographs and edited volumes have been published over the last few years on Beauvoir as well as on Merleau-Ponty (fueled in part by the 2008 centennials of their births), there are no significant monographs published on both philosophers despite the fact that they read each other’s work on an ongoing basis and cited one another regularly. Most of the comparative analyses have instead focused on the better-known (and all too often sensationalized) intellectual and personal relationship between Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. So this book will mark a distinctive intervention in existing scholarship on Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty.
Normalizing Bodies: This monograph focuses on the often taken-for-granted standards of normalcy, normativity, and naturalness that work together to define which types of bodies are most highly valued by a given society. By focusing on cases of “abnormal” embodiment that challenge conventional expectations, this book seeks to identify and dismantle oppressive norms of embodiment and expand the range of acceptable body types and behaviors. Ultimately, I argue against dualistic conceptions of normal/abnormal, natural/unnatural, and normative/non-normative forms of embodiment, and advocate a more continuous and complex model that acknowledges that what is considered to be normal, natural, and/or normative is always a function of a particular social and historical context, and is therefore capable of being altered.
Research Assistant Tasks: I am seeking a research assistant for Fall 2014 to aid me in completing the following projects:
1) Uploading my CV, published articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, etc. to two Philosophy and Academic databases so that a complete, up-to-date profile appears under my name when scholars are using these sites to access my work: Philpapers and Academia.edu Copies of all of my publications are in my office and can be scanned using our dept. copier if electronic copies are not available. My dept. website should also be updated with a list of my most recent publications (and perhaps electronic copies of them if my colleagues have done this too)
2) Create bibliographies for the two monographs I am completing: 1) Ethical Ambiguities in Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty: a book that focuses on shared philosophical themes in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s and Simone de Beauvoir’s work and their ethical implications; 2) Normalizing Bodies: a book that critically examines conventional distinctions between normal and abnormal bodies. Since many of the chapters I’ve written for both books have been presented as papers at professional conferences and/or published, some of this work will involve combining existing bibliographies from these separate pieces into a single list of references. I would also like the assistant to locate and get copies through our library (or Consortium) of new journal issues, articles, books, and book chapters directly related to these two projects that are not yet in the bibliography but that should perhaps be incorporated into the book.
Time Commitment: 1-3 hours per week
Credit Hour Option: 1
Application Requirements: An unofficial transcript and a short statement indicating their philosophical relevant background for or interest in this project as well as their prior research experience.
Contact Email: gweiss@gwu.edu
