Kalita McDowell

I completed my Honours in Psychology at UNB where I completed two of Scott’s courses in my final year at UNB - Advanced Topics in Psychotherapy and Topical Seminar in Developmental Psychology. I also volunteered in his lab for additional experience after graduation and before beginning my graduate studies in Fall 2010. During that summer, I was involved with a literature review, collecting tools for measuring important variables and designing study. The project was then continued by one of Scott’s Honour’s students that Fall.

I am currently towards the end of my MSc degree in the Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology (CABE) Programme offered by Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). My thesis is examining people’s preferences and perceptions of dogs (physical features and dog breeds). It is just one of several interesting projects being conducted in the Canine Research Lab (CRU) under the supervision of Dr. Carolyn Walsh. As part of the CRU lab, I have participated in community events such as St. John’s Pet Expo (an exhibit for pet owners) where we have developed relationships with the public and communicated findings of canine research. Our lab was also invited to present a mini-course for a small group of middle school students who were involved with an enrichment program at MUN.

In addition to participating in events and opportunities as a member of the CRU lab, I have also held several TA positions for undergraduate courses (e.g. stats, intro to psychology, etc.) offered at MUN and have participated in Psychology Research Day, where undergraduate and graduate Psychology students are invited to share their research. I presented my pilot study at the event and will presenting my second study at a Psychology Department seminar in the near future. Additionally, I will be travelling to the University of Colorado for the 50th annual Animal Behavour Society Conference this summer to present some of the results of my thesis and participate in other conference activities.

I hope to convocate this Fall and plan to return to UNB to complete a few prerequisite courses required for Dental School.

If you have any questions regarding my experiences at UNB, MUN or anything else, please feel free to contact me by email at kem737@mun.ca.