SURP Alumni 2018

Read more about our 2018 interns and their experiences in the SURP program:

• UVA SURP Intern Discusses the Contagious Work Ethic at Curry & How It’s Changing Him: Jose Olais, a 2018 SURP intern, talks about why he chose the Curry School and what skills he’s learning for graduate school and beyond.
• Skill Development & Support Broadened Two SURP Interns’ Future Plans: Two SURP interns, Sonakshi Negi and Ricky Canelo, describe how the interdisciplinary research at UVA has broadened their perspective and prepared them for graduate school.
• Curry Interns Gain Confidence in Their Career Paths During SURP Program: Two interns, Astha Agarwal and Andrykah Smith, discuss the confidence they’ve gained in SURP and how they have changed their career trajectories.
• Research Skills Are Key for SURP Interns in Advice for Future Students: The final two 2018 SURP interns, Myles Arrington and Jalim Salim, describe the research skills they’ve gained at Curry and advice they have for future students.

Meet our 2018 interns:

Astha Agarwal

Astha Agarwal is a dual major in Psychology and Economics at McGill University in Montreal, and calls Fremont, California her home. Astha serves as a Research Assistant in McGill’s S.T.A.R. Lab, which focuses on intervention studies for schools, families, and children who may be at risk. She works as a Floor Fellow in McGill residence, providing support to over fifty first-year students living on campus. Astha loves working with children and she volunteers as an after-school outdoors program leader for elementary students in Montreal. Astha plans to pursue graduate studies in school psychology and is especially interested in studying interventions to build resiliency in children who have suffered maltreatment or neglect.

Myles Arrington

Myles Arrington is a native of Prince George’s County in Maryland and a student at University of Maryland, College Park, with a major in psychology. He has been a research assistant in several labs on campus, including Dr. Michele Gelfand’s Culture Lab researching the concept of tightness-looseness across the world and in the fifty U.S. states, and Dr. Geetha Ramani’s Early Childhood Interaction Lab researching how children learn math through interactions with their parents and teachers. He also participates in the Gemstone Honors Program as a member of Team Oysters researching the use of 3D printing in oyster restoration. Myles plans to enter graduate school soon after obtaining his degree, with the goal of getting a doctorate degree and conducting research in psychology and neuroscience.

Ricardo Canelo

Ricardo Canelo is a Gates Millennium Scholar and senior in the College of Arts and Science at New York University.  Some of his past research experience includes examining the role of positive feedback in increasing positive parenting behaviors, and investigating the optimal preschool environment for dual language learners (DLLs) in New York City.  His research interests include examining the effect of availability of mental health services on maternal depressive symptoms.

Sonakshi Negi

Sonakshi Negi is pursuing a BA in Psychology at George Mason University. She completed the Psychology Honors Program at GMU, and wrote her honors thesis on "Ecological Momentary Assessment of Weight Stigmatizing Behaviors and Eating Disordered Cognitions.” She works as a research assistant for three clinical psychology research labs at her home institution. At the University of Virginia, she will be working on the "The Development of Ambitious Instruction in Elementary Mathematics and English Language Arts" project under the guidance of Dr. Peter Youngs. After graduating from GMU, she plans on pursuing a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology.

Jose Olais

Jose Olais is the oldest brother of three siblings, proudly raised by his mom in a small border town in southwest Arizona. He is a rising senior attending the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ where he is pursuing degrees of Psychological and Sociological Sciences. He is the Vice-President of the Psi Chi chapter at NAU, an active member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, and involved with undergraduate research. His research experience has consisted of working with faculty in clinical and social psychology. He will continue his role in these labs in the upcoming fall as well as adding a role in a developmental lab. His current research interests are educational psychology and the academic development of low SES students and underrepresented groups. He plans to one day work with underrepresented youth to promote positive social and life skills.

Jamila Salim

Jamila Salim is an undergraduate at Syracuse University. She has had the opportunity to conduct research in a social psychology lab as well as school psychology, in which she was able to recognize her passion for research, specifically in investigating child development. Under this umbrella, she has various interests including applied behavior analysis, researching intelligence, establishing interventions (emotional or academic), and investigating better methods for communication between caregivers and those with pervasive developmental disabilities. She is excited to begin SURP, collaborate with interns in the program, and see what creative ideas they come up with together!

Andrykah Smith

Andrykah Smith is a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Africana Studies studying at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. She is originally from Upper Darby, PA, where she lived with her parents and four siblings, but she currently resides in Charlotte, NC. She has previously worked on a research team that studied internationalization trends in academic journals within the field of applied behavior analysis. She hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in school psychology and is very interested in studying educational equity and the achievement gap between white students and students of color.