The Research Assistant Mentoring Program (RAMP) is an easy yet efficient way for a freshman or transfer student to find which lab works best for them.
Consisting of a class with around 20 students, RAMP aims to match psychology majors to a 1-2 credit research assistantship. Lori Astheimer, neuroscience-track advisor and psychology lecturer, runs the RAMP program and ensures all students in the program are comfortable with the lab they are in. There are weekly meetings as well as established lab mentors that shadow RAMP students.
Yasmeen Zureiqi, a UMass Sophomore Psychology major, has found her passion through RAMP with the Violence and Trauma Across the Lifespan Lab, aka, the ViTAL Lab.
At first, the limited number of lab assistantship spots made her hesitant to apply for a position. RAMP became the perfect way to introduce her to the next level of research and new possibilities at UMass. As a freshman, Zureiqi’s reasoning for applying to RAMP stemmed from her love of pursuing research in high school and interest in psychology labs.
“I found RAMP and it was just a shot in the dark, I applied, and I got in,” she said. “I absolutely loved it.”
RAMP helps students through every step of the research assistantship process. It opens new horizons for them including how to better understand scientific articles and begin their own projects.
“Even the word ‘research’ is scary to freshmen,” Zureiqi said. “I’m really happy that this is how I got introduced to research.”
In the ViTAL Lab specifically, they are extremely flexible on what they research. A specific study that Zureiqi helped conduct her freshman year in the RAMP program was the “Stress, Parenting, and Child Emotions (SPACE)” study.
This particular review focused on caretakers with experiences in trauma and how it can affect their child's mental health and development. As stated in the study directive, “We know that caregiver's emotions and behaviors have a strong influence on children during the preschool period; however, optimal caregiver functioning is often compromised by trauma. Therefore, we are aiming to examine how caregivers experiencing significant stress manage their children’s emotions, especially their fears and worries.”
The ViTAL Lab, along with many other psychological and brain sciences labs, is full of new and exciting research. Many students have the opportunity to help the broader community. Zureiqi has continued as a research assistant in the ViTAL Lab and is working on completing her honors thesis.
“I absolutely love my lab, it's everything,” Zureiqi said.
RAMP matches up psychology students with a fresh start to research. With a new beginning as a freshman or transfer student in college, the program introduces students with a step-by-step guide to learning how to properly work in a lab.
“This is one of the best opportunities PBS offers for anyone who wants to get involved in research!” Zureiqi said.
As an incoming freshman or transfer student, RAMP is a perfect way to further explore what kind of research students can do as a psychology major, and how to further explore research as a potential career path.
—Alexa Sales '26