Join Our Team

The School Mental Health for Minoritized Youth and Families (SMILE) Research Lab is directed by Dr. Prerna Arora in the School Psychology Program at the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Our lab aims to promote mental health among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and immigrant-origin youth and families by supporting research that can be translated into interventions impacting communities and populations that are historically marginalized. The goal is to increase access to culturally-informed mental health care for marginalized youth and adolescents.

For our current projects, we are recruiting Research Assistants (RAs) with specific competencies. Candidates must have interest in our projects and be highly motivated to gain research experience.

Recommended competencies include:

• Past research experience in the field of psychology (e.g., recruiting participants, conducting annotated bibliographies, entering data, etc.)
• Excellent writing skills
• Proficiency in another language (E.g. Mandarin, Spanish, etc.)

Responsibilities include:

• Ability to commit to working for a full academic year (Fall and Spring)
• Ability to commit to working 10 hours/week
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively

To apply, please fill out the following survey.

For questions and concerns, please email our lab manager, Ana Ledesma.

We are now accepting research assistant applications for the 2023-2024 school year. Research assistants are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the academic year. We encourage applicants with proficiency in Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, and Bengali to apply.