IUPUC student spotlight: Megan Taylor

by Belinda Allen
May 13, 2016

Megan A. Taylor, of Columbus, Ind., is an undergraduate student of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC). Over the past two years, Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Mark Jaime has been her mentor.

During the spring semester of 2014, Megan approached Dr. Jaime with an expressed interest in becoming a volunteer in the campus science research lab. “I was immediately impressed by Megan’s level of interaction and by my colleagues’ high praise of her as a student,” says Dr. Jaime.

“From the outset,” explains Dr. Jaime, “Megan has been integral in helping to build my lab from the ground up. Currently, she coordinates nearly all aspects of the lab’s functioning including recruitment, scheduling visits, participant testing, data management, and new lab member training. She also played an integral role in the design of one the lab’s current research studies. This experience provides Megan with a unique perspective on the challenges involved in conducting research. She has also developed skills that will make her an asset in any research environment.” 

“Additionally,” shares Dr. Jaime, “Megan shows a high level of scholastic achievement, scientific thinking, and intellect. As a student, she maintains a GPA of 3.58 and has earned an A in two of the most rigorous courses in our program, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Perception. She also served as the president of the IUPUC psychology club in the 2014/2015 academic year.”

Megan’s research explores children’s memory for phenomenal awareness, which is the ability to be aware of one’s sensations and feelings. This important area of cognitive development is an emergence of self-awareness in children that is a possible basis for more sophisticated social cognitive skills in later development. In her study, children ages two through eight initially make a first-person action video recording using a body camera. The camera records the child walking through a hall or jumping in place. Later, a self-recognition text of their first-person recorded experience is played with a video made by a previous video participant of another child. The findings of her work suggest that children show developmental improvement in their ability to represent first-person experiences.

Megan has received competitive awards for her outstanding research activities.

  • In 2015, Columbus Regional Health’s Science Student of the Year and received a gift of $500.
  • Won best poster in her session at the 21 Annual Indiana University Undergraduate Research Conference, which included students from the other IU campuses. She is the first IUPUC student to win the award since the conference began presenting awards last year. The award included recognition and a 250 scholarship
  • In the spring of 2015, Megan received $1000 scholarship from the Office of Student Research (OSR) at IUPUC for her undergraduate research project
  • 2016 Office of Student Research Award provided a scholarship to expand her research project

In addition to dissemination of her research at local conferences, Megan co-presented her research at international peer-reviewed conferences.  In 2015, co-presented research with Dr. Jaime at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society held in Toronto, Canada.

The Jean Piaget Society, established in 1970, has an international, interdisciplinary membership of scholars interested in exploring the nature of the developmental construction of human knowledge. The Society adopted its name in honor of the Swiss developmental scientist, Jean Piaget, who made significant theoretical and empirical contributions to our understanding of the origins and evolution of knowledge.

In May 2016, Megan will co-present a continuation of her study at the 46th Annual Meeting of The Jean Piaget Society held in Chicago, IL. Furthermore, she has recently accepted an offer to attend a doctoral program at Florida International University, on a TA-ship and stipend, where she will be pursuing doctoral studies in developmental science and conducting research with human and nonhuman primates.

As a full-time student, Megan continues to work as a mental health technician for a local institution that studies and treats children and adolescents with severe behavioral issues. Although Megan has worked in this psychologically and emotionally taxing environment, she has been able to excel academically. According to Dr. Jaime, “Megan’s tenacity speaks of her commitment to helping children; is demonstrative of her resilience to working in a high-pressure environment and her commitment to being a high-level researcher.”