For students who are interested in participating in language development or speech perception research, the Language Development
Laboratory provides you the opportunity to gain valuable research skills, and to have closer interactions with faculty in the department.

Students can participate through the URAP program, or can receive HESP499 pass/fail credit, working under the supervision of Dr.
Newman. Students will assist in:

• recruiting participants,
• running adult, child, and infant study participants, and
• developing new research projects.

The focus is on breadth of research experience, so students participate in all of the projects the lab is working on in a given semester (rather than being assigned to a single project) - usually this involves at least 10 different studies per semester.

However, advanced students have the opportunity to develop their own independent research project in addition or instead of general lab participation. To help put the lab's research into a broader perspective, students participate in bimonthly lab meetings involving critical readings and discussion of recent research in the field.

Students are expected to participate in bimonthly meetings, read journal articles, and are required to work at the lab for a minimum
of 6 hours a week. Lab participation generally requires a minimum GPA of 3.25, and lab positions tend to fill quickly. If you are
interested in participating in lab research, please contact Dr. Newman at rnewman@hesp.umd.edu.