Armen B
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Duke University
Expertise
Clinical (i.e., abnormal) psychology, child psychology, developmental psychopathology, cognitive development, research methods, basic statistics (e.g., ANOVA, regression)
Bio
Armen’s area of study is developmental psychopathology. He uses behavioral and neuroimaging methodologies to understand how psychobiological vulnerabilities and environmental risk factors shape developmental processes and pathways of normative and atypical cognitive, social, and emotional development during early childhood. Armen is a clinician-in-training, and works with individuals with various psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Armen grew up in a low-income family in Philadelphia and was the first in his family to go to college. He loves to cook, check out restaurants, and travel. You might find him at your local coffee shop in Durham, North Carolina.Project ideas
Writing a Research Grant Proposal
Students will write a research grant proposal to convince the reader that: 1) their research project has clear objectives, 2) their research project is worth doing, 3) their proposed methods are suitable and feasible, and 4) there is a well thought plan for achieving the objectives in the available timeframe.
Learning to Communicate Science Effectively
Students will choose a published manuscript and 1) summarize its results to a lay audience in a news-style article, 2) design a graphical abstract as a visual summary, and/or 3) create a short video summarizing the main findings.
Does the brain’s response to errors associate with symptoms of anxiety?
Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) can measure how the human brain responds to errors during inhibitory control tasks. Does the brain’s response to errors associate with symptoms of anxiety disorders? Students will conduct a literature review to synthesize results demonstrating this relationship. Alternatively, students will design an experiment to test this relationship.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected mental health?
Students will conduct a literature review to synthesize results demonstrating whether the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased psychological well-being (i.e., increased levels of depression, anxiety, etc.). Alternatively, students will design a survey to test this relationship.