Departmental and Affiliated Research Labs
Departmental and Affiliated Research Opportunities are typically available for course credit, but pay and auditing/visiting options may be available (as indicated in the listing). For most positions, no previous research experience is required.
- Each semester, labs that are actively seeking undergraduates for research assistantships post openings in our Undergraduate Research Opportunities spreadsheet. See each posting for more information about current projects and how to get involved in them - Undergraduate Research Opportunities.
- Every Psychology faculty member has a webpage on the department website that describes their research and most labs have their own websites. If you find a lab you’re interested in, contact the faculty member or lab manager to see if there are any open opportunities for undergraduates - Department Faculty Lab Websites.
- The UGO keeps a list of researchers in psychology and related disciplines from the broader Harvard community who may be interested in supervising undergraduate research assistants. Reach out to any faculty whose research interests you - Board of Honors Tutors.
- Departmental and Affiliated Research Opportunities can commonly be taken for course credit. Speak with your research supervisor about these options if you are interested - Course Credit for Research.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Spreadsheet
All the research opportunities advertised by departmental labs can be found in one searchable, sortable Google Sheet...
Fall 2026 Departmental Research Opportunities
Please be aware that if you download or copy the sheet, any new postings that come in after will not be included.
Faculty Lab Websites
For additional descriptions of faculty research programs, click on each professor on the department faculty page and navigate to their website...
Psychology Department Faculty Pages
If the lab has posted on the UGO's research opportunities spreadsheet, they will provide contact information and tell you what they are looking for from you (resumé, e-mail expressing interest, etc.). If you have explored their lab site and have not found any contact information, you are welcome to reach out to the faculty member or lab manager, usually via e-mail. Head to our FAQ page for tips and best practices for doing so!
Board of Honors Tutors
The following researchers may supervise independent research projects for course credit through PSY 910R. Please click on each Tutor’s name to visit their lab website for more information about their research and contact them directly if you are interested in exploring opportunities to work with them.
Some Tutors may also serve on senior thesis committees. Asterisked (*) members may serve as the primary thesis Supervisor or as a Reader without petition. Non-asterisked members may serve as Readers when the primary Supervisor is a member of the Departmental Faculty. In some cases, students may also petition to include a non-asterisked Board of Honors Tutor in a more substantial thesis advising role alongside a Departmental Faculty supervisor. Please see the Thesis Manual for additional information about committee roles.
If you have questions about who may be a good fit with your research interests, how to reach out to ask about research opportunities, or thesis committee eligibility, please contact Dr. Garth Coombs (garthcoombs@fas.harvard.edu).
| Member Name | Research Interest & E-mail |
|---|---|
Behavioral decision research; Negotiation; Decision aspects of ethics and morality. Contact at mbazerman@hbs.edu. | |
Elizabeth Bonawitz, Ph.D. | Intuitive theories; Causal learning; Play; Computational Cognitive Development. Contact Lab Manger at cocodevlabsharvard@gmail.com. |
We focus on brain health research at the community level. I also focus on research in the field of creativity and its interface with resilience. Contact at carson@wjh.harvard.edu. | |
Amanda Collins, Ph.D. | Depression; Anxiety; Substance Use; Evidence-Based Treatments; Digital Phenotyping; Reward Processing. Contact lab by completing this Google Form. accollins@mgh.harvard.edu |
Jared Curhan, Ph.D. | Negotiation; Facial Expressions; Emotions; Nonverbal Behavior; Brainstorming; Creativity. Contact at curhan@mit.edu. |
Julian De Freitas, Ph.D. | Consumer psychology; Ethics; Artificial Intelligence; Business; Marketing. Contact at jdefreitas@hbs.edu. |
* Dan Dillon, Ph.D. | Memory; Learning; Decision-making; Cognition; Neuroscience; Depression; Anxiety; Mental health. Contact at ddillon@mclean.harvard.edu. |
David Eddie, Ph.D. | Substance use disorder; Addiction psychology; Psychophysiology; Digital health. Contact at deddie@mgh.harvard.edu. |
* Nadine Gaab, Ph.D. | Pediatric neuroimaging in infants, toddlers and young children; Learning differences/disabilities; Reading development/dyslexia; Language development; Math development; Longitudinal learning trajectories. Contact Nadine_gaab@gse.harvard.edu |
Amit Goldenberg, Ph.D. | Our research examines how emotions spread through social systems and technologies, and how these processes can be leveraged to improve well-being at scale. Emotion; Groups; Social media. Contact at agoldenberg@hbs.edu. |
Randy Gollub, M.D., Ph.D. | Interface between the technological advancement of neuroimaging acquisition and analysis methods and their application to basic and clinical neuroscience. Contact at rgollub@partners.org. |
* Emily Hennessy, Ph.D. | Adolescence; Addiction; Community psychology; Social psychology; Recovery; Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Contact at ehennessy@mgh.harvard.edu. |
Laura Holsen, Ph.D. | Disordered eating; Stress; Reward; Appetite; Hormones; Mood; Weight change; Anorexia Nervosa; Obesity; Clinical trials; Neuroimaging; Neuroendocrinology. Contact at lholsen@bwh.harvard.edu and CC lab manager Lilly Hacsi lhacsi@bwh.harvard.edu. |
Daniel Kohane, M.D., Ph.D. | Drug delivery and biomaterials. Contact at daniel.kohane@childrens.harvard.edu. |
Poornima Kumar, Ph.D. | Reinforcement learning; Decision-making; Computational modeling; Mental health; Neuroimaging. Contact at pkumar@mclean.harvard.edu. |
Jennifer S. Lerner, Ph.D. | Decision-making; Emotion; Wellbeing; Public policy. Contact at jennifer_lerner@harvard.edu and include assistant Betsy Hartman at bhartman@hks.harvard.edu. |
Dara Manoach, Ph.D. | Sleep; Memory; Schizophrenia; Autism; Sleep spindles; Neurostimulation; Cognition. Contact at dara.manoach@mgh.harvard.edu and CC lab manager Lindsey Woodham lwoodham@mgh.harvard.edu. |
Brain and behavioral development in typically developing infants/children and in development comprised by early adverse experiences. Contact at charles_nelson@harvard.edu | |
* Nicole Noll, Ph.D. | Social cognition; Stereotypes; Attitudes; Prejudice; Discrimination; Gender; Intersectionality; Feminist psychology. Contact at noll@wjh.harvard.edu. |
Behavioral economics; Judgment and decision-making; Consumer psychology; Social norms; Attitudes; Social interaction; Political correctness. Contact at mnorton@hbs.edu. | |
Bruce Rosen, M.D., Ph.D. | |
Alex Russell, Ph.D. | Our work examines how digital media and technology shape alcohol and other drug-related behaviors in young adults. Alcohol; Drugs; Young Adults; Digital Technology; Digital media; Artificial Intelligence. Contact at arussell11@mgh.harvard.edu. |
Martha Shenton, Ph.D. | Our research uses advanced neuroimaging tools to understand brain and behavior associations in those who are at risk for psychosis and other schizophrenia spectrum disorders, mild traumatic brain injury, ADHD, and eating disorders. Contact at shenton@bwh.harvard.edu. |
Rebecca Shingleton, Ph.D. | Eating disorders; Mental health; Evidence-based treatments; Integrating technology into mental health care; Disseminating evidence-based interventions in university settings. Contact at rshingleton@g.harvard.edu. |
Christian Webb, Ph.D. | Causes and treatment of depression in teens; Adolescence; Multimodal methods (EEG, fMRI, ESM/EMA); Machine learning. Contact (with resume and application) at cwebb@mclean.harvard.edu. |
Ashley Whillans, Ph.D. | Our research uses behavioral science to understand what makes people happy and how they spend their most precious resource — time. Well-being; Happiness; Time management; Behavioral science; Behavioral economics; Interventions. Contact at awhillans@hbs.edu. |
Jeremy Wolfe, Ph.D. | Vision; Visual attention; Medical image perception; Visual cognition; Experimental psychology. Contact at jwolfe@bwh.harvard.edu. |
Julian Zlatev, Ph.D. | Decision-making; Morality; Trust; Impression formation; Prosocial behavior; Ethics. Contact at jzlatev@hbs.edu. |
Course Credit for Research
There are many ways to receive course credit for research in Psychology! Below are some of the best paths to achieve this...
- Taking a lab course - Read this page to see the lab course offerings for the year, and to learn how to reach out to & join a lab!
- Taking PSY 910R, an independent research course designed to study under a Board of Honors Tutors member or Psychology faculty member who does not have a lab course. You can learn more about 910R by contacting the Undergraduate Office at psychology@wjh.harvard.edu.
- Taking PSY 985, Junior Tutorial: Honors Thesis Preparation.
- Writing a thesis and taking PSY 991, Senior Tutorial: Honors Thesis.
If you have more questions about research opportunities for credit, feel free to contact the department or your Concentration Advisor.