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Student Training

Join Us! Training Opportunities

The REAACT Program in the Center of Excellence For Autism Research provides research training to students and faculty at all levels and various disciplines with a focus on emotion regulation, measurement development, clinical trials, and research with autistic individuals more broadly. The REAACT lab seeks to be an inclusive and safe space for all trainees. We value diversity of all kinds and are committed to rectifying longstanding inequities within research and academia. Individuals from minoritized backgrounds and neurodivergent individuals are strongly encouraged to reach out about training opportunities.

We also offer career development support for each cohort of trainees - undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, predoctoral training, & postdoctoral trainees.

Please see the following opportunities and explore our team and studies to learn more about work happening in REAACT. Our ACE study also has specific career development initiatives through the Dissemination and Partnership Core. If any of these are of interest, please see the related links for eligibility and fill out this form.

We do not currently take or sponsor any graduate students (e.g. clinical psychology, developmental psychology, rehabilitation science)

Undergraduate Training

There are many opportunities for undergraduates studying psychology, neuroscience, and related fields to receive research training and contribute to ongoing studies in the REAACT Program. This includes undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh and regional universities. Examples of experiences pursued in our lab have been part-time volunteers, work-study students, directed research projects, and mentorship of honors theses.

Undergraduate students are supported with biweekly, in-person journal club meetings and career development seminars each semester. Journal club articles are selected to reflect a variety of important topics in autism research, with a particular emphasis on advances in diversity and inclusion topics. Career development topics include: creating poster presentations, navigating authorship order, and critiquing journal articles. 

Post-Baccalaureate Training

We occasionally have openings in our lab for post-baccalaureate research assistants and specialists. Research assistants will have the ability to receive training on clinical assessments and research protocols, and will be responsible for aspects of study coordination (i.e., recruitment, guiding participants through study protocol, and data management).

Post-baccalaureate trainees are supported through ongoing, individual mentorship by a postdoctoral trainee and faculty member. Post-baccalaureate trainees lead a small project or analysis on a faculty members research project and participate in monthly meeting updates with the faculty. They are encouraged to lead abstract submissions to conferences and support manuscript development through this process. They are invited to join monthly journal club and career development meetings with the undergraduate cohort as well. Mentorship is also provided in applying to various graduate programs and career paths.

Predoctoral Training

  • Clinical trainees may complete practicum rotations through research (e.g., serving as a therapist on a clinical trial, assessment administration and scoring).
  • Research training is available for graduate and medical students at the University of Pittsburgh and regionally. This includes mentorship through the Medical Scientist Training Program, Longitudinal Research Projects for medical students, and the Biomedical Engineering in Psychiatry Program. Mentorship and consultation on graduate-level NIH individual fellowships (e.g., F31) is also available.
  • UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Clinical Psychology Predoctoral Internship: UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH) and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine offers an American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited internship in clinical psychology. This program is a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science and adheres to a “clinical science” model of training and professional development which emphasized the integration of research and clinical training and a commitment to empirically informed approaches to clinical work. There are opportunities to complete a clinical rotation through the REAACT Program. Additionally, REAACT core staff are available as a primary research mentor for WPH clinical psychology interns. Clinical psychology interns have opportunities to continue their work with the REAACT lab through postdoctoral training and transitions to faculty.

Predoctoral trainees are supported through monthly, in-person, career development seminars with a cohort of postdoctoral and early career faculty trainees. They also attend monthly virtual writing club meetings that are led by REAACT Core faculty members, Drs. Jessie Northrup and Kelly Beck. 

We do not currently take or sponsor any graduate students (e.g. clinical psychology, developmental psychology, rehabilitation science).

Postdoctoral and Early Career Faculty Training

Predoctoral trainees are supported through monthly, in-person, career development seminars with a cohort of postdoctoral and early career faculty trainees. They also attend monthly virtual writing club meetings that are led by REAACT Core faculty members, Drs. Jessie Northrup and Kelly Beck. 

Health Disparities Internship

HEALTH DISPARITIES SCHOLARS | CEFAR (pitt.edu)