Education

As director of the TRIP Lab, Dr. Stavrinos trains students who contribute to all areas of the scientific community. She mentors students at various levels of their academic careers from high school students to graduate students. Dr. Stavrinos’ success as a mentor was recognized in 2017 when she the honored recipient of the Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award.

Primarily, Dr. Stavrinos mentors students from psychology or a related field, but given the interdisciplinary nature of work in transportation safety, it is not uncommon for students from other academic disciplines – such as public health, engineering, nursing, medicine, neuroscience, computer science –  to seek mentorship with the TRIP Lab.

The laboratory is often the first place students apply what they have learned toward a real-world topic. If this experience is a positive one, that is, if it is challenging and rewarding, then it fosters students’ interest in becoming future researchers. Students under Dr. Stavrinos’ mentorship are given the unique opportunity to actively contribute to TRIP Lab activities through challenging hands-on experiences and rewarding opportunities, enabling them to emerge as leaders.

Dr. Stavrinos and the TRIP Lab are recruiting highly motivated, detail-oriented individuals eager to conduct research on the role of cognition and behavior in injury prevention, with an emphasis on driving safety.

Research assistants will have the opportunity to work on multi-million dollar grants as well as other TRIP Lab studies.

You will gain hands-on human subjects research experience, have opportunities to present research at scientific conferences, and receive guidance on curriculum vitae (CV) building and the graduate school application process.

The three main concepts that inform Dr. Stavrinos’ mentoring are experiential learning, project-based learning, and peer learning. These empirically-based techniques enable Dr. Stavirnos to effectively transfer critically important and highly relevant knowledge and skills to her students.

Experiential Learning

Dr. Stavrinos firmly believes that students learn best when they actively participate. Within the research context, experiential learning takes place when students are actively involved in all aspects of the research process. Under her direction, students assist with the development of protocols, assist with the recruitment of research participants,  run participants through experimental protocols, process and enter data into statistical software, and disseminate research findings through presentations at scientific conferences.

These experiences challenge students to truly grasp what research is all about, from start to finish. Students reflect upon their experiences in biweekly laboratory meetings. Dr. Stavrinos and other TRIP Lab team members provide constructive feedback in a timely manner, thus providing a bi-directional opportunity for learning — those providing feedback further their understanding and advance their critical thinking skills, and those receiving feedback learn how to accept critiques from multiple perspectives. Experiential learning enables students to develop strong research skill set that can be applied towards future work.

Project-Based Learning

Dr. Stavrinos strives to provide her students with the skills necessary to think critically and independently — skills crucial for their future career development. Project-based learning is an effective tool for instilling these skills. Once basic research skills are attained through experiential learning, students apply those skills by developing independent side projects and gain both independence and responsibility. Dr. Stavrinos works directly with students during the early stages of their project’s development, intervening to promote critical thinking about various aspects of the project. Once the student is “on track,” her involvement becomes less hands-on, allowing the students the latitude and freedom to develop their research project. Although her goal is to not micro-manage her students, Dr. Stavrinos does monitor student progress and ensures that each student knows she is always available should questions or problems arise.

Hierarchical Peer Teaching

Students seeking mentorship in the TRIP Lab possess varying levels of training, knowledge, and experience — either from their class standing (high school, undergraduate, graduate) or their previous opportunity to perform research. Because there is such a vast array of experience levels within the TRIP Lab, hierarchical peer teaching is a natural method to increase the skills and knowledge of all students.

Hierarchical peer teaching allows more advanced students to play an active role in the education of newer students. This method rewards the more senior students with an opportunity to gain experience in mentoring as well as to further develop research independence. Less experienced students benefit from learning from multiple teachers and multiple styles. All students have strengths to bring to the TRIP Lab, hierarchical peer teaching allows these strengths to be shared, regardless of how “experienced” the student may be.