Join the VECTR Lab in Fall 2024

David Schuster, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Thank you for your interest in my lab at SJSU, the Virtual Environments, Cognition, and Training Research Lab. This page explains why and how to get involved in the lab as a student.

Are you hiring student assistants or postdocs in your lab, class, or department?

• No. We are not hiring any paid positions at this time. Please do not send me unsolicited requests for employment. I receive so many of these that I can no longer provide individual replies. If I ever have employment opportunities available, I will post them to this web site.

Can I join the lab as a volunteer?

• Maybe! Please read the rest of this page.

I am a talented high school student. Will you mentor me?

• In order to fully serve SJSU students, I cannot mentor high school students through the lab.

I recently graduated or am graduating in the next few weeks. Can I join the lab?

• In order to fully serve current SJSU students, I cannot mentor those who have already graduated (postbacc) through the lab.

Would you write me a letter of recommendation?

• If we have worked together in some capacity beyond being a student in my classes, then yes, I am happy to write a letter if I believe it will help your case for admission.
• If I only know you as a student in my course(s), then my letter would not be helpful for getting into graduate school. This is because I could only write a one-line letter that describes your grade in the course, which will not be sufficient for most graduate school applications.
• Sometimes, a one-line letter that confirms your performance in a class is all the recommendation that you need for some types of school or employment. If that is your situation, please contact me to discuss.

Will you advise my thesis or culminating project?

• While the process varries across academic programs, students usually approach potential advisors after they have started their Master's coursework. You don't need to be a lab member for me to advise your thesis/project, but it often makes sense for you to join the lab (there is a lot of overlap). I am not a good advisor pick if your desired topic is completely unrelated to my work.

Why join a research lab on campus?

• Research experience is necessary preparation for research careers but valuable whether or not your career involves conducting research. My philosophy is that all lab members are becoming better researchers, though their career paths will differ.
• Therefore, if you are considering graduate school, join a lab as soon as you possibly can! If the VECTR lab does not suit you, scroll to the bottom of this page for a list of other SJSU labs.
• Student research assistants in the lab may: Conduct literature reviews; assist in the development of new studies; develop stimuli, measures, and simulations; prepare IRB submissions; collect data; enter, code, and format data; analyze data; coauthor conference papers and presentations; and, do other tasks to support the research.

Who is eligible to join the VECTR Lab?

• This is a limited time, special application window to meet our need for cyber interview data verifiers. I will close the application once we have added enough volunteers, and I will contact applicants once the search is concluded.
• The VECTR Lab welcomes all current and admitted SJSU students who want to develop their knowledge and skill as researchers.
• We do social science research, but students in other colleges (including engineering, business, humanities, education, science...well, all of them) may find work in our lab worthwhile.
• You will be contributing to cybersecurity research. No prior experience or skill in this area is required. But, if you find cybersecurity and technology topics particularly un-engaging, then you may dislike work in the lab.
• If your passion is mental health, be aware that research in our lab will not directly impact mental health.
• If your passion is user experience (UX), especially for commercial products, be aware that we are strongly science-oriented. At the present time, we are not a good place to learn how to do usability evaluations on products nor build a UX portfolio. However, the lab is a good place to develop skill as a researcher.
• The earlier in your SJSU career, the better. That said, if you are still acclimating to college or on academic probation, consider waiting one semester to apply to a lab.
• If you are in your last semester at SJSU, consider if your time would be better spent on an independent study project with a faculty member in your area of interest. It typically takes students a full semester to get oriented to the lab before they can fully contribute.
• In order to fully serve SJSU students, I cannot mentor high school students or those who have already graduated (postbacc) through the lab.

What would I work on?

In Fall 2024, I am opening applications for a limited number of students who want to work as Cyber interview data verifiers:

• As a research assistant on this task, you will listen to audio recordings using headphones and make corrections to an automated transcription. This is a critical task for the research, as we want to have a transcript that is 100% accurate to support further data analysis.
• This requires at least three hours of volunteer work each week. This is an in-person role in the lab, DMH 346.
• Volunteers can set their own schedule but need to arrive at the lab during the business hours of the Psychology office for key checkout (Mon to Thu 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, closed for lunch 12:00 pm to 1:00pm).
• Volunteers will be responsible for keeping participant data secure and confidential.
• Completion of the free CITI Research Ethics training for SJSU (the training applies to any research lab or class on campus), or plans to finish this 10-hour training very soon, is a huge plus.
• While you will work on this task independently, Dave is available at any time via e-mail or office hours on Tuesdays/Thursdays at 2:00 pm.

What are the baseline expectations of all VECTR Lab members?

We expect the following of ourselves and each other:

• Mutual respect, which means that we recognize and value that we bring different skills and qualities to our collaborative work, and we act with regard for how our behavior affects others.
• Ethics as a core part of our culture, which means that the credibility of science and education depends on us acting ethically. We know that ethical violations by us or our collaborators can jeopardize our research. We cannot act ethically if we do not understand research ethics. Therefore, you can expect ethical training before you conduct research in the lab. You can expect support and guidance when you navigate and speak up on challenging ethical situations. You can also expect no tolerance of ethical violations that negatively affect our participants, lab members, research, or community. Ethical violations by lab members may result in their immediate removal from the lab.
• Availability for questions or concerns related to the research or the lab; within HSI/psychology/other topic area; regarding your decisions about, preparation for, or progress through graduate school.
• Your name, credentials, academic program, role in the lab, and photograph are directory information and will be displayed on the lab website by default. At any time, you can sign into my.vectrlab.net or contact me to remove the display of this information.

What is the application process?

• 1. Apply

  • Complete the brief application as soon as possible.
  • I aim to bring people into the lab on a rolling basis. Please give me two complete weeks after you submit your application before you e-mail me; then, if you haven't heard anything, e-mail me.

• 2. Train

  • New volunteers should plan to complete our onboarding and training quickly.
  • Once your application is approved, you'll see a new course on Canvas for the VECTR Lab. You are not a lab member until you complete the training.
  • Training will take approximately 10 hours, less if you have already completed the CITI Research Ethics training program for SJSU.
  • You can change your mind and stop the training at any time. You can also choose to leave the lab at any time.
  • Once all training assignments are satisfactorily completed, you will be the newest member of our lab!