One of our goals for our students is to intern at another school. One of our current scholars, Salamatu (Sallay) Barrie, is doing just that. Sallay had the following to say on the challenges and rewards of conducting research abroad:
Everything at the University of Michigan is great! I am learning a lot from Dr. Shah (a researcher in the area of Working Memory). I had a difficult time in the beginning, but managed to adjust mostly due to my previous research experience with the McNair program and with my mentor at Ga. State–Dr. Rihana Williams. Currently, I am working on several projects dealing with training effects on improving Working Memory capacity. The best part about doing research abroad is meeting different faculty members here. It is a lot easier to make connections (e.g., for finding future advisors and possible funding opportunities) over here in person than over the phone or via email; many of these professors do not have time to reply to inquiry emails.
The biggest challenge here is the amount of work. Not only do I have to do complete the work from my advisor, I also have weekly GRE test prep sessions, SROP meetings, and weekly lab meetings. So time management is definitely the biggest challenge so far. However, I am enjoying my time here, and hopefully next summer I will be here again.
Sallay
