Health and Behavior Lab Manager: Abby Williams

Our spotlight for this week is the manager of the Health and Behavior Lab, Abby Williams! Coming to us from Boston, MA, Abby (she/her) is a junior in the Psychology major. Abby loves to ski, hike, travel, and hang out with her family and friends. Another fun fact about her is that she is a diehard New England Patriots fan.

When asked what advice she would share with her fellow Psych majors, Abby said: “I would encourage all psych majors to get involved in a research lab on campus as early as your sophomore year. I promise it’ll be a great experience and you’ll have the opportunity to be mentored by one of the psych department’s amazing faculty members!”

Building on that, Abby shares: “For the past year, I have had the opportunity to be the lab manager for Dr. Birmingham’s Health and Behavior Lab in the psych department. It has been an amazing experience so far and I have learned so much from Dr. Birmingham and the other research assistants in the lab; they have all been great mentors to me. Being in this lab has allowed me to gain research experience that can be hard to obtain elsewhere. I have been able to learn more about the components of a research study, such as data collection, analysis, and presenting at conferences. In addition, as lab manager, I have had the opportunity to lead and mentor the RA’s, which has been a great experience and has helped me learn how to be a better leader. I will always be grateful for this opportunity I’ve been given as it has shown me how much I love conducting research and want to pursue it as a career.”

Nice to meet you, Abby!