In the summer of 2011, I had the wonderful opportunity to study Studio Art in Macerata, Italy. As anyone who has studied abroad will say, it was a life-changing experience. While in Italy I spent time researching global art and visited the Biennale, an international exhibit in Venice. During my studio time I was given total freedom to create a work of original art. Although the art faculty encouraged artistic autonomy, they were supportive and always willing to provide creative guidance. As a result, I produced a piece that challenged my previous artistic boundaries. My series of work consisted of text and images printed on pages from an 1800’s Italian literary critique. Living and learning in Italy was a humbling experience that gave me tremendous insight into who I am and how the world functions. This adventure not only influenced my world-view, but also advanced my career. The piece I created in Italy was later featured in an exhibition in Portland, OR.

The next summer, I participated in two programs that allowed me to research specific areas of psychology. I started working as a Psychiatric Care Specialist at a psychiatric and substance abuse facility. While leading group therapy I discovered that clinical psychology was the discipline I wanted to pursue. I also worked as a Research Assistant in a lab on campus. While working in Dr. Purcell’s sensation and perception lab, I ran participants through his “fun face” experiment and analyzed the data we collected. From that experience, I developed a separate project that I could undertake on my own. Dr. Purcell became my mentor, and this new project became my Honors College Thesis. Previous research on this topic has determined the hemispheric location in which face recognition and face perception occur. My thesis aims to discover the location of the brain where face detection occurs. Participants were first asked to complete a questionnaire that allowed me to determine their degree of hemispheric dominance. Next they participated in an experiment, which recorded how fast, and accurately they detected faces. These results will be compiled to determine the impact of hemisphere dominance on face detection. This has been the most educational and valuable experience of my undergraduate career.

This winter I submitted my thesis abstract to the National Undergraduate Council and was selected out of 3,000 candidates to present my thesis at The National Conference for Undergraduate Research in April. At the NCUR conference I will represent The Honors College and Oakland University as an example of the type of quality research being conducted by undergraduate students.