Volunteer Opportunities for Students
Various opportunities in the Chan division are made available to current students interested in gaining direct experience conducting research, including contributing to the work of funded laboratories and scholarship of faculty members. If you are interested in volunteering to learn more about research or are considering a career in science, please contact faculty members directly to learn more. For non-Chan options, check out OS/OT Volunteer Opportunities.
Healthy Aging Research & Technology (HART) Lab
¡Vivir Mi Vida! Lifestyle Intervention to Optimize Health Outcomes in Latino Patients
Faculty: Stacey Schepens Niemiec
Nature of Work: Our interdisciplinary research team is developing a Lifestyle Redesign® intervention for aging Latinos who receive primary care services in rural communities. Intervention development is currently underway, including refreshing and expanding the intervention manual, aligning intervention modules to be compatible with the Rural Healthy People 2030 national goals, and transitioning all study procedures and intervention components to be fully remote. Duties may include transcription, Spanish-to-English translation, health resource gathering, review of training manual iterations, translating intervention modular content for delivery via telehealth, development of activity-based intervention modules, development of training for community health workers, searching literature, and/or creating reports and presentations.
Time Commitment: 6–10 hours/week for at least two semesters
Preferred Skills and Resources: CITI trainings including Human Subjects, Good Clinical Practice, and Research HIPAA training offered through USC are required, Spanish-English bilingual, passion for and connection to the Latino community, attention to detail, literature searching skills, experience analyzing qualitative data (ideal but not required), excellent writing skills, willingness to occasionally travel offsite to rural areas such as Antelope Valley and Coachella Valley to meet with community partners, access to online communication technology (e.g., internet, video camera), comfort interacting and being productive in a remote/virtual setting, REDCap data management software experience, PowerPoint and Excel experience.
Preferred method of communication: Email
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Development of a Lifestyle Intervention for the Prevention and Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
NICU Therapy Lab
General Lab Assistance
Faculty: Polly Kellner
Nature of Work: The NICU lab regularly accepts volunteers. Attend weekly lab meetings to learn more about the workings of our lab and then become engaged in volunteer opportunities as they emerge. Volunteer tasks can include creating social media posts, being trained in a video coding reliability process to quantify sensory exposures in the NICU environment, and helping prepare presentations and educational materials, among other things!
Time Commitment: We encourage attending weekly lab meetings to build rapport with the lab and get to know what tasks are available to determine which ones pique your interest. Weekly lab meetings change each semester but typically are held during the lunch hour
Preferred Skills and Resources: A passion for neonatal therapy!
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Apply by January 30 to be considered for the Spring semester and by September 30 to be considered for the Fall semester.
