Meet our Research Peer Advisors (AY 2020-2021)

Symone Gelay

gelays@kean.edu

Forensic Psychology, Class of 2021

Research Experience:

1. What is your research study?
   My research study is, “Auditory hallucinations within the Deaf schizophrenia population: Bias analysis within a criminal case”
2. Why is this research project important to you?
   This project is important to me for a few different reasons. I plan to go for my doctorate degree after I graduate from Kean University and I plan to write my dissertation on the D/deaf population and their mental health. The D/deaf population and mental health is an under-researched topic, and this is causing many misdiagnoses within the population especially with the lack of training on the culture of the population. I want to be able to treat within the D/deaf population and provide accurate diagnoses and treatment, but the research needs to start somewhere.
3. Did you always know you wanted to do research in your field?
   I did not always know I wanted to do research in general, even in the field of psychology or specifically with the D/deaf population. I knew about halfway through high school that I wanted to study psychology and become a clinical psychologist, but I was unaware of how to get there. Thankfully when I came to Kean, I met the amazing faculty members who have helped guided me not only with my research but also with furthering my academic career.

Mentor Experience:

1. Your first mentor experience
   My first mentor experience actually occurred my freshman year with my General Education Mentor (GEM) during my Transition to Kean course. My GEM helped guide me through my freshman year and helped me make contact with the right people within my department. With my GEM’s recommendation I also became a GEM myself. I have been a GEM for two-years now and it has been an amazing experience which has only helped me grow and become more well-rounded and able to assist students. My first research mentorship/ mentorship with a faculty member began around the end of my sophomore year beginning Junior year. Dr. Conti became my mentor since they were the only faculty member doing research I was interested in. He was extremely welcoming and willing to help me and begin guiding me through research. We met in their office and I discussed with them my plans for graduate school and my career, they took this information and then began offering me advice on what I would need to do to achieve these goals.
2. How has your mentor experience at Kean been?
   Dr. Conti is my mentor as well as my academic advisor, it has been a great experience. Dr. Conti is extremely well knowledgeable and helpful. They only want to see me succeed and are prepared to aid me in my success. It has been an incredible experience and I feel I would not be where I am today without this experience.
3. Why have you decided to become a CURF research mentor?
   I have decided to become a CURF research mentor because I want to use the experience, knowledge, and skills I have to help mentor these students and provide them with the support they need in creating and completing a research project. Especially in answering any questions they may have that may be about other programs within the University since I am a part of the McNair Scholars Program.
4. One piece of advice you would like to give to new student researchers.
   Don’t give up, when doing a research project, you are going to hit many obstacles, whether these obstacles are navigating databases, not seeming to find enough research, creating a valid and reliable study/experiment, or even learning a whole new writing style. You are going to become frustrated but always remember you have a whole team of people who are here to help you and want to see you succeed.

Anibely Torres

torreani@kean.edu

Computer Science, Class of 2021

Research Experience:

1. What is your research study?
   Machine learning neural networks (NN) and deep learning (DL) convolutional networks are super successful with many applications. However, they are not widely used yet in fields besides computer vision for two reasons: 1) the missing of the design principles for NN, and 2) lack of trained professionals to apply this technology to broader fields.
2. Why is this research project important to you?
   I have always been interested in discovering new things. As I took some electives, I found myself interested in Machine Learning and AI. The opportunity to research both fields not only will help me in the future, but also help me find new interests throughout.
3. Did you always know you wanted to do research in your field?
   Not really. Once I was introduced to it, however, I found myself doing research ever since then.

Mentor Experience:

1. Your First mentor experience.
   My first mentor experience at Kean was with Dr. Jenny Li.
2. How has your mentor experience at Kean been?
   My mentor experience at Kean has been very fulfilling. I learned lots from Dr. Li. I was also introduced to Dr. Yulia Kumar and other students, which was an amazing experience.
3. Why have you decided to become a CURF research mentor?
   I decided to become a CURF research mentor because I want to help other students in the same situation as I was when I was a researcher.
4. One piece of advice you would like to give to new student researchers.
   One piece of advice I would like to give to new student researches is to not be afraid of new opportunities.