| Spots for the 2024 – 2025 cohort have been filled.
If you are a junior, we encourage you to apply next fall before the second week of September due to the competitive nature of these positions. |
APPLICATION CLOSED |
Who We Are
The overarching mission of the School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center is to promote high-quality, culturally-responsive programs, practices, and policies to meet the full range of social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs of students in both general and special education contexts. The SMART Center aims to accomplish this mission by using innovative and practical research methods to:
- Develop contextually-appropriate, low-burden programs that prevent or ameliorate SEB problems;
- Develop strategies for communities, districts, and schools to increase the use of effective SEB programs, practices, and policies;
- Support indigenous providers such as teachers and school-based mental health providers in their roles; and
- Enhance the interconnections across school, home, and community contexts.
The Center represents a transdisciplinary collaboration between faculty in the College of Education (CoE) and the School of Medicine (SoM; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences) at the University of Washington. Through this collaboration, SMART facilitates more equitable, effective, and integrated approaches to research and technical assistance surrounding the design and implementation of evidence-based SEB interventions.
Undergraduate 499 students will have exposure to multiple SMART Center projects and take on many of the same roles and responsibilities as Research Assistants. Under the direction of the 499 Program Director, students will be paired with a Research Coordinator mentor who will serve as their Lead Task Supervisor and explore the project-specific, research, and professional development interests of the 499 Students and assign tasks as needed. Students will have an opportunity to be part of a 499 cohort and attend weekly meetings where guest speakers will be invited to discuss SMART Center projects, provide research-related trainings (i.e. qualitative interview training, Qualtrics, coding), and discuss relevant research literature and methodologies. Additional opportunities might include: shadowing field staff, providing support at SMART Center events, trainings, expert summits, and attending project team meetings.
499 Students will assist Research Staff with tasks as needed. This may include, but is not limited to:
- Transcription of youth, school clinician, and teacher qualitative interviews
- Manuscript preparation (i.e. literature searches, reference reformatting, etc)
- Data collection, entry, and cleaning
- Calculate descriptive statistics
- Reformatting and collation of project, field, and training materials
- Support staff during meetings, events, and trainings
| Link to official PSYCH 499 Course Posting. | Official Posting Available |
Learning Benefits
- Develop new skills (e.g., qualitative coding, Excel formulas, calculate descriptive statistics, draft brief reports, etc.) through completing project tasks and skill practice assignments
- Develop general research skills that are transferable to other fields
- Exposure to universal SEB interventions and implementation science (e.g., why programs don’t produce intended student outcomes, how to increase use of interventions, how to improve the delivery quality of interventions)
- Develop close working relationships with Director, Managers, Task Supervisors, and other staff members
- Discuss research topics in weekly seminars as a 499 Program cohort
- Apply coursework to real-time research
- Summarize and present research topics and study results
- Craft research questions and create poster for the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Many previous 499 Students have used this research course as an opportunity to learn about and understand the work that goes into conducting research before applying to graduate school.
Projects of Interest
499 Students will have the opportunity to work on one of three teams which are led by different clinical or child psychologists. Read more about the teams and their projects below.
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ASPIRE
Autism Services and Practices Implementation Research in Education
The ASPIRE Pod is led by Dr. Jill Locke and focuses on autism in the classroom, and many of their projects seek to better understand how we can support schools and enhance care for autistic students.
They are looking for a 499 Student to support their work in Autism and implementation science research. The 499 Student will support multiple of their Autism studies, including RUBIES (RUBI in Education Settings) and Remaking Recess!
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DREAMI
Designing, Real-world Effective [and Equitable] Approaches to Multilevel Implementation
The DREAMI Pod is led by Dr. Aaron Lyon, a robust federally funded research program devoted to the development of usable and effective approaches to improving the accessibility, effectiveness, and equity of social, emotional, and behavioral sciences delivered in K-12 (primarily public) school settings.
Beliefs and Attitudes for Successful Implementation in Schools – Teachers (BASIS-T) |
The purpose of this project is to test the effects of BASIS-T on the implementation and student outcomes of evidence-based prevention programs (EBPP) via an implementation-effectiveness trial.
This nationwide efficacy study continuously receives data and has available work in data entry and participant tracking. |
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Public Health Seattle King County (PHSKC) |
UW SMART provides evaluation, training, and consultation to Public Health Seattle King County to continually improve the delivery of school-based mental health supports in King County’s 50+ school-based health centers (SBHC). The goal is to use SBHCs to assure students can easily access effective, efficient mental health services in a multi-tiered system.
While data collection is still ongoing, a 499 Student may have the opportunity to code. |
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Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (RIISE) |
The purpose of the RIISE methods training grant is to increase the number of education scholars with expertise in conceptualizing, designing, and executing implementation research studies. This is done through providing training (e.g., annual summer training institute in Seattle, bimonthly webinars) and mentorship to increase human intellectual capital devoted to implementation research study design in education and build a network of implementation scientists.
This project is preparing to submit its final report to their funder – 499 Students have the opportunity to work directly with data (e.g., cleaning, descriptive statistics, identifying trends, creating tables and charts) as well as interpret data and practice scientific writing. |
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Usability of Social-emotional and Behavioral Interventions: Links to Implementation and Translation to Youth Outcomes (USABILITY) |
The aims of this project are to: (1) evaluate the usability of leading, evidence-based Tier 1 social-emotional and behavioral interventions (SEBI) and identify unique and common usability problems, (2) explore the links between SEBI usability and implementation and student outcomes, and (3) refine the USABILITY theory of change, develop a matrix of usability problems and redesign solutions, and articulate guidance to the field for designing usable Tier 1 SEBIs.
Current work involves recruitment of intervention developers, school districts, and teachers as well as documenting and coding interventions, data tracking, and notetaking for user testing sessions. |
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TAC
Training and Technical Assistance Core
TACore, led by Dr. Eric Bruns and Kelcey Schmitz, helps bridge the research-to-practice gap by supporting student-serving organizations and professionals to develop, deliver, and evaluate effective school mental policies and programs across multiple tiers of school and community support. They do this through providing Training, Consultation/Coaching, Technical Assistance, and Program Evaluation.
A 499 Student would support data evaluation and report generation.
Minimum Requirements
- Junior or Senior standing
- STRONGLY ENCOURAGED: Completed or currently enrolled in PSYCH 209 (Fundamentals of Psychological Research)
- Minimum commitment of two consecutive quarters (Fall and Winter)
- Register for 2 or 3 credits each quarter (equivalent to 6 or 9 hours work each week)
- Commit to in-person work at our Sand Point office (potential for hybrid model given schedule)
- Begin work the week of September 30, 2024
- Complete quarterly evaluations (self, Task Supervisors, 499 Program)
- Attend a weekly seminar
- Interest in addressing mental health in schools for youth
- Experience working with youth or in schools
- Willingness and desire to learn!
Please note the following:
- We are looking to bring on several students for Fall 2024
- We are currently only accepting students who are interested in receiving course credit for PSYCH 499 (Undergraduate Research)
- Applicants will not be contacted until the second week of September
If you have questions, please contact Vaughan Collins (collinsv@uw.edu).
Leadership & Staff
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Aaron Lyon, PhDFaculty Advisor, 499 Program |
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Jodie Buntain-Ricklefs, MSW, MPHDirector, 499 Program |
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Vaughan Collins, MSWManager, 499 Program |
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Taylor Ullrich, MSManager, 499 Program |
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Sofia Redondo, BSTask Supervisor, 499 Program |
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Aislyn Gordon, BATask Supervisor, 499 Program |
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Casey Chandler, BSTask Supervisor, 499 Program |
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Bethlehem Kebede, BSTask Supervisor, 499 Program |
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Adora Du, BSTask Supervisor, 499 Program |