Lucie (she/her) is a senior in the Honors Program pursuing a double major in Psychological Sciences and Spanish. Her interest in research began in high school when she did her senior Capstone project on how food insecurity impacts people’s food perceptions and how these perceptions can cause differences in food choices.
During her second semester at UConn, Lucie became involved in research as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Rhiannon Smith’s Social and Emotional Development Lab in the Department of Psychological Sciences. She assisted in research that studied factors associated with prejudice in children and adolescents by helping recruit participants and data cleaning.
After her first year, Lucie was awarded the position of a research apprentice through the UConn SHARE Summer Program to further explore her research interests under Dr. Peter Chen in the Department of Geography. During the Summer of 2022, she worked on a research project that explored people’s food shopping activity and how it is linked to their perception of food and other lived experiences. As a research apprentice, Lucie learned more about the process and realized she was passionate about pursuing research.
During her second year, Lucie received funding for Summer 2023 through the UConn IDEA Grant Program to lead her own research project that combined her interests in social-emotional development and food insecurity. She is researching how participation in free or reduced school meal programs impacts sense of belonging at school.
In addition to being an undergraduate researcher, Lucie is a Teaching Assistant in the First Year Experience Program, Student Coordinator for Language and Literacy programs in Community Outreach, and a Kids and UConn Bridging Education (KUBE) volunteer. She hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in School Psychology to continue researching how to best support students in school settings and learn how to create optimal learning environments for all students. If you have any questions regarding getting started in undergraduate research, what research is like at UConn, or applying for OUR funding programs, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Lucie!
Student Research Blog Posts by Lucie: