By: Alexis Cavalli, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, acc5407@psu.edu

 

Penn State Brandywine provides students the opportunity to apply their education outside the classroom.

Attending a smaller commuter campus has its perks when it comes to one-on-one interaction with professors. There are currently 12 bachelor degree options for students and many of them offer independent study opportunities.

One of the most common degrees at Brandywine is psychology. The degree offers students the chance to be an independent studies researcher.

One of the research options is with Dr. Evan Bradley, who is an assistant professor of psychology. He and his team focus their research on linguistics and perception.  They are currently working on the AURAL study, which explores the effects of musical aural skills training on tone language perception.

One of the research students is junior psychology major, Brian Fairfield.

“Given the small student to teacher ratio, I am able to pursue the advantage of participating in research which will ultimately assist me in being accepted into grad school,” Fairfield said.

For many psychology students, participating in research will not only count as their capstone, but also become an asset when applying to graduate school. Lab experience is becoming a vital part of the graduate school prerequisites and Brandywine provides realistic ways to become a part of a research team.

Antonio Nicosia is another member of Bradley’s research team.

“When attending a large school, students have to actively look for research opportunities because there is such a limited amount of spots,” Nicosia said.  “When you attend schools like Brandywine, the professors are the ones recruiting you.”

If you are interested in learning more about the AURAL project or want to become part of the team, contact Bradley at edb13@psu.edu.