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SEARCH Center

Opportunities for Students

Opportunities for Graduate Students

We offer volunteer opportunities for graduate students and undergraduate students to learn about the autism research conducted at SEARCH. Ph.D. students can receive training in autism assessment, clinical aspects of autism, and in working with families.

Students can contact Dr. Jan Blacher or Dr. Katherine Stavropoulos  at searchcenter@ucr.edu or (951) 827-3849.

 

Undergraduate students interested in gaining research experience related to autism at SEARCH can email searchcenter@ucr.edu with:

  1. Cover Letter
  2. CV
  3. One letter of recommendation


UC-LEND

UCR and UCLA have joined in a collaborative effort to train graduate students for Leadership  Education in Neurodevelopmental and other related Disabilities (LEND), known as UC-LEND. Students from SEARCH have served as trainees in this program (now in its 7th year), learning about research and clinical practice from a multidisciplinary faculty team.

Visit the UC-LEND website

 

Where Students Are Now

Former SEARCH fellows and graduate students have gone on to complete post-doctoral fellowships at prestigious institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, UCSD, UCR, University of Wisconsin, University of Indiana, and hold faculty positions at Universities such as Columbia, University of Oregon and at both University of California and California State University campuses.

 
leigh ann tipton fisler
~ Leigh Ann [Tipton] Fisler
“SEARCH supported me with invaluable training that began the summer before my graduate classes even began. There I had the opportunity to receive training on the ADOS, which enabled me to provide community-based assessments at the SEARCH autism screening clinic throughout my time as a graduate student. These skills combined with my doctoral training in school psychology helped prepare me for practice that reaches beyond the school doors.”
Shana Cohen
~ Shana Cohen
“I really enjoyed learning and working with colleagues at SEARCH as a postdoctoral scholar. I had a lot of great opportunities to learn new assessment tools, collaborate with students and faculty, and support Spanish-speaking families.”
Giselle Salinas
~ Giselle Salinas
“SEARCH has allowed me the pleasure of working with the Inland Empire community and specifically minoritized and neurodiverse communities. I have been able to not only gain research and clinical experience, but it has also reinforced my passion in continuing to work in autism research and make services and supports more accessible to families.”
sasha zeedyk
~ Shasha Zeedyk
“While graduate school is no walk in the park, effort, mentorship, and fit are key. SEARCH not only prepared me well for success in academia, it was also the place I met the lifelong colleagues and close friends that I continue to work and laugh with today.”
Geovanna Rodriguez
~ Geovanna Rodriguez
"As a first-generation student, I struggled to find community among students that didn't look like me or shared my story. At SEARCH, I not only found a learning community that made me feel like I belonged, but also a home and a family that valued my ways of knowing and doing. I had amazing opportunities to work with families and children from my community and learn skills that I could never have acquired in my courses. Throughout my training at SEARCH, I learned lessons on humility, affirming care, respect for cultural diversity and neurodiversity, which continue to inform my practice, teaching, and service to the profession."
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