Read completes several psychology research projects

As a Cornell undergraduate, Katherine Read has pursued a number of research projects that will position her well for her eventual goal of graduate studies leading to work in a hospital setting.

As a junior, she spent a block conducting proprietary research with a prominent neurologist at the University of  Iowa Hospitals. There she played an integral part in organizing and collecting research data from participants that has gone on to become the data set used for published papers and professional presentations.

Back on campus, she joined psychology professor Melinda Green’s research team in various studies related to body satisfaction, overeating, and depression. One study involved having males and females view themselves in the mirror while clothed and while wearing bathing suits. Stress responses measured using ECG equipment appear to indicate that males are more comfortable than females while seeing themselves in bathing suits, and the team hopes their results may eventually be publishable.

As a senior, Read used her lab skills as a teaching assistant during Biological Psychology, and she plans to complete an independent honors thesis related to her work in Green’s lab. Read says the most valuable aspect of majoring in psychology at Cornell has been the personal mentorship and care she’s received from her professors.

“They have provided me with numerous opportunities to participate in many different activities including different research opportunities, the ability to do my own research, and to help others at the College,” she says. “They have helped me build an amazing resume which gives me an incredible advantage when I leave Cornell.”

After Cornell, Read hopes to land a research position in neurology or psychiatry for a year before enrolling in graduate school. She’s entertaining a number of possible career paths, ranging from practicing medicine, to public health, to hospital administration.