Post-Graduation Thoughts

I graduated on Saturday, and I feel absolutely fantastic! In less than 2 years I'll be recieving my Master's degree in Behavior Analysis (and shortly after, I'll be taking my BCBA exam which will then grant me with the certification needed to kick some serious ass). But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

The last five years have been like no other. There have been numerous failures and accomplishments, ups and downs, etc that have helped to shape me into the person I am now. And I'm still growing, and as the responsibilities get heavier, so will my skills.

I'm already confident as a behavior analyst (but ethical bounderies prohibit me from doing most of the awesome stuff I would love to do on my own). As the days go on, I try not only to be a good practitioner and researcher, but I also strive to become a better theorist. As a matter of fact, the theory of the science of human behavior is what I enjoy the most. I love to think, and I love to doubt. Every day I question my beloved science, and I cannot wait for the next paradigm shift from Behaviorism to ???, whether it's in 10 years of 10,000 years.

As the summer moves in, I think I'm going to focus more on writing about what I'm doing in school, but I'll be sure to keep you up to date on all of the fantastic trips I'll be taking :-) There are a number of research/OBM projects that I'll be participating in, which could make for fun discussion.

Right now I'm actively involved in a study that is assessing effective ways for cars to yeild to pedestrians at uncontrolled crosswalks. Sounds exciting, right? Well, what if I told you that we're running the project under a grant provided by the Department of Transportation? Even better... we get paid and reimbursed for our services = very rare, at least for WMU.

The project is being conducted by a student in Dr. Van Houten's Behavior Analysis Applied Science Lab, and last week, Dr. Van Houten, myself, Aeranie, and Brian (head researcher), went to Chicago to meet up with two people from the DOT to collect preliminary data and to refine the methods of our study.

The experiance was exemplar because I was able to see how much pull a funding agency can have over a study. The researchers at the funding agency aren't Behavior Analysts, so a wide variety of opinions and conclusions were drawn between the 6 of us. After 4 meals and numerous discussions, a concecious was reached, and data collection begins tomorrow. I'll try to keep you updated on the results as they come in, and I'll be sure to post pictures of my trip to Chicago in the near future (at that point I'll go into more detail about the actual study, etc).

On a side note, we trained our undergraduate research assistants today on the methods of the study. While we were conducting trials on the sidewalk, Dr. Malott happened to get caught in the crossfire. As he yeilded to one of the experimental response topographys, he looked over at me, smiled, and shook his finger. Absolutely hilarious!

It all starts now. While the rest of my cohort are waiting for Dr. Malott's Behavioral Boot Camp to start in June, I'm busy getting a head start in a lab that I don't even belong to. I'm going to do everything in my power to become the most well-rounded Behavior Analyst I can be. Whether it's working a booth with the DD population, managing clients in the group home, or getting Chicago drivers to yeild to pedestrians, I'll be there saving the world one trial at a time.


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P.S. I got another raise at HomeLife. This time, the news is awesome: I am now a supervisor.