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Honors Contract Questions

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Global Awareness: I have joined an honor fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi, which I believe helps develop my Global Awareness. This is because the fraternity is completely inclusive to all genders, races, and cultures. I’ve been able to grow in my awareness of individuals who are different from myself through this organization. Also, my involvement in my scholars group (Biological Sciences Scholars) has exposed me to lots of different kinds of people, especially through our volunteering opportunities. I plan to study abroad in Italy next summer to expand my world view and continue to develop my Global Awareness.

Original Inquiry: I’ve spent the last year working in the Language Perception Lab on campus, for which I have learned a lot about the research process in the context of my major (psychology). I’ve gotten better at using things such as sound-editing software and I’ve learned a little bit about coding in Python. It was something that I didn’t really consider about the research process previously that I now appreciate a lot more. I will continue to work in that lab and complete an honors thesis next year to continue to grow in Original Inquiry.

Academic Enrichment: I decided to do a BS in psychology rather than a BA because of my commitment to Academic Enrichment. I believed that taking the extra statistics class and graduating with research distinction would satisfy my desire for deeper learning in my major and better prepare me for graduate school. I also chose classes for my GEs that I was genuinely interested in, rather than those that just fulfilled the requirement, because I have an interest in learning in general. I always aspire to learn as much as I can in all areas because I love doing it so much. I chose my minors because I felt that they would help me develop a necessary depth of knowledge in my desired career field of psycholinguistics.

Leadership Development: I am involved in Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, Biological Sciences Scholars, the Psychology Research Mentorship Program, and Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology. I am heavily involved in the first three, because I was only accepted into Psi Chi last month. I hope to become involved in that next semester as well. For Biological Sciences Scholars, I am the Academic Chair, and undertaking this position has helped me to acquire more leadership skills than I already had before. Because I hope to become a professor someday, I need to be a good leader in order to command a classroom. I think that all of the experiences I’ve had this year contribute to my growing Leadership Development.

Service Engagement: Through Biological Sciences Scholars and Phi Sigma Pi, I have been able to volunteer with several organizations. For example, I have volunteered with the Wesley Glen Nursing Home, Clean Up Columbus, and the Midwest BunFest to name a few. I would like to ideally have a cause for which I can volunteer regularly, but having several smaller opportunities has been rewarding in and of itself because I’m able to help as many people and causes as I can.

Sophomore Year

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I can’t believe that another year of college has gone by already. I’ve had a really productive year! I’m more and more thankful every day that I made the decision to attend Ohio State because of all the opportunities I’ve been able to take advantage of this year.

In autumn semester, I declared two minors, linguistics and Italian. I finally feel like I’m on the right path! I recently attended the Midwestern Psychological Association conference, which confirmed my enthusiasm for a future in psycholinguistics. Although I have still been taking mostly introductory classes in those areas, next year I will be starting to take classes more specific to my interests. I’m really excited for them!

Outside of the classroom, I began working in the Language Perception Lab on campus. In autumn, I spent time learning the ropes around the lab and running experiments for graduate students. Then, in the spring, I enrolled in the thesis class and started to work on a project of my own. For that, I learned how to use sound editing software and code in Python (which I’m still working on–it’s hard!). I also spent a lot of time running my own participants. I managed to collect data from 30 people all on my own in a span of about 5 days, which I’m really proud of!

At the beginning of spring semester, I applied for several scholarships to fund my research, and I found out recently that I was awarded two of them! One is the Undergraduate Research Psychology Fellowship, which allows me to stay in Columbus over the summer and work on my thesis some more without taking on another job. The second is an Undergraduate Research Scholarship, which will be applied to my tuition and fees during my junior year.

I have remained active in my scholars program this year as well. In addition to completing the requirements to remain a member, I applied for and was accepted to the position of Academic Chair. My term started in the spring, and since then, I have organized and led several events designed to bolster the academic growth and development of my fellow scholars. I will continue this work through the autumn semester of my junior year.

Socially, I have continued to enjoy my time in my honor fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi. I even decided to take on a “little” in the spring semester! I have made so many good friends from that organization, and I hope to keep those relationships throughout the rest of my time here and beyond. I am so glad I decided to join last year!

It seems like I have so much to share. I guess I’m busier than I realized! Next year will be a new adventure for me, because I’ll be living off-campus for the first time. I can’t wait to take it on!

Methods Section

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I completed a methods section of a research paper for an experiment that one of the graduate students in the Language Perception Laboratory is working on. You can read it here. It took a lot of time and drafts to complete, but I think that doing it helped me to get a better grasp on scientific writing, which I will need to do a lot of in my future career.

Freshman Year

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It’s been an amazing first year of college on so many levels. I adjusted to living in a new state on my own and I can’t wait to go back! I made three best friends in my roommates and Kuwait is my new favorite Arabic country.

In terms of my academics, I finally figured out what I want to do with my life! I’m officially a psychology major and my goals are to study language acquisition and become a professor. I’ll end up getting at least one minor in Italian, and possibly a second in linguistics.

This year, I joined the honors program in addition to Biological Sciences Scholars. I got into the Psychology Research Mentorship Program, which provides a more structured environment through which I can complete a thesis and present at different fora over the next few years. This summer, I’m going to be doing an internship in the Language and Music Cognition Lab at UMCP to get my feet wet. Then, starting next semester, for my thesis I will have a research position in the Language Perception Lab at OSU doing my dream research on word learning!

I also got inducted into the best academic honor fraternity out there, Phi Sigma Pi! I never thought I would do Greek life before I went to college, but joining them was the best decision I could have ever made.

So, I know that was long, but a lot of amazing things have happened to me this year! All in all, life is great. I can’t wait for next year to begin!

First Semester

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Looking back over my first college semester, I can recall so many ways in which I have grown. I have not only adjusted to the academic challenges of college, but I have also learned how to be independent, particularly because I hadn’t visited home prior to Thanksgiving break. This has led to exponential growth of my maturity and responsibility in the last few months. I bought a planner at the beginning of the semester which I use to write out my schedule each week. Because of this, I have become much better at managing classes and other commitments and balancing them with fun.

I have gone outside my comfort zone a lot; for example, I have spoken with almost all of my professors during their office hours, which turned out to be very helpful in order to both gain clarification on class concepts and get to know my instructors. I have become quite active in the Biological Sciences Scholars community as well as a club on campus called Pets for Vets, and I have also taken advantage of lots of events in order to help me discern my major, future research opportunities, and study abroad.

During the semester, I have grown in more ways than one, and I hope that next semester will only continue to help me mature and navigate the world as an independent adult. It is important that I reflect on past experiences in order to understand what I learned and how I’m different from how I used to be. It helps me to remember that I am always learning and growing, and that there are always experiences in life I can have with the potential to change my world view for the better.

Abstract

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Hi, I’m Elizabeth! I’m a sophomore studying psychology in the Biological Sciences Scholars program.

This e-Portfolio contains a little bit about me, my goals, and what I’m up to at Ohio State. Under the Artifacts tab, you’ll find two papers that I wrote during my time here that are very meaningful to me. You can also find my resume under the Career tab. If you have any questions or want to contact me, my email is at the bottom of the page. Thanks for stopping by!

Central Ohio Heart Walk

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heart-walkI went on the Central Ohio Heart Walk with some of my fellow scholars (pictured here are Sara Lung and Jared Boss). We participated in order to raise money for those affected by cardiovascular disease and stroke. It was a two mile walk, and we had a great time!

G.O.A.L.S.

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Global Awareness: It has always been a goal of mine to study abroad in Italy. After attending the Education Abroad Expo and an Italian Education Abroad session, I determined that I should begin taking the introductory Italian sequence starting in spring semester of 2017. This will enable me to travel to Italy through the Siena Italian Studies program and complete an Italian minor in the summer of 2019.
Original Inquiry: I worked as a research assistant during the summer of 2017 in the University of Maryland’s Language and Music Cognition Laboratory under Dr. Bob Slevc. I was assisting a graduate student in her research on bilingual lexical access. This semester, I started working in the Language and Perception Laboratory at Ohio State under Dr. Mark Pitt. I will continue in this lab for the duration of my undergraduate career, and will take the thesis class next semester and begin to develop my own research project. I hope to get a scholarship to stay in Columbus over the summer of 2018 and work in the lab to begin working on my thesis.
Academic Enrichment: I applied and was admitted into the honors program in the spring of 2017. I have since been taking honors classes on campus and find them to be very academically stimulating.
Leadership Development: I am particularly interested in applying for a leadership position in Biological Sciences Scholars itself. I will be submitting an application in hopes of becoming the Academic Chair for the organization. If I do not get that position, I would hope to become the Future Opportunities Chair. Additionally, I plan on running for Brother-at-Large of my National Honor Fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi. If I do not get that position, I think I will run for Secretary.
Service Engagement: So far this year, I have stayed involved in service both through Biological Sciences Scholars and through Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity. Through Scholars, I found the opportunity to volunteer at the Midwest Bunfest this fall break. My mom came in town to visit and we volunteered together for a few hours! It was a really fun experience. Through Phi Sigma Pi, I learned how to make plarn, which is a type of yarn made of used plastic bags which will then be crocheted together to make blankets for homeless people. I also spent some time recruiting at the blood drive during the Blood Battle.

Positionality Paper

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artifactI completed a paper for my Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies class (Gender, Sex, and Power) examining how my positions on various spectra of gender, sexuality, religion, race, and class affect my everyday experiences. Doing this assignment helped me to discover more about my own circumstances involving privilege and oppression, and opened my eyes by encouraging me to examine my world critically.