Valerie Polad

Valerie Polad is a PhD student in Quantitative Psychology who is interested in measurement, multilevel modeling, and longitudinal data analysis.

On being a TA

I wanted to serve as a TA for the Summer Program because I just really love teaching. I've had the wonderful experience of teaching at my home institution, but that's really constrained to Psychology. At the Summer Program, it's really interesting seeing other social sciences such as Political Science or Public Policy or Sociology and then being able to do these things applied to other domains.

Connecting with others

We've had a lot of great diversity scholar events, such as the Juneteenth picnic and the networking lunches, and there have been chitchats at the tables while we're eating. It's really cool seeing how far and wide the reach of the Summer Program is. There are people from different continents, and we've been able to discuss methods.

My favorite moments at the Summer Program have been connecting with the professors, and also just being able to talk about methods freely. It's not usually a thing in your home institution where people are excited about methods, and it's cool that other people here care about what you care about.

I would describe the Summer Program as really collaborative, warm, and welcoming. That is definitely the vibe that I've gotten at any of the group events and even one-on-one with people. It's a very welcoming place to learn about methods.

Advice for newcomers

The Summer Program really helps you progress your own research and it's just a cool place to be. So if you're analyzing your own data and you're just not sure what to do with it, I feel like it's better to come here and learn from someone who knows what they're doing and who has been doing it for a long time, instead of going through the pain and struggle of reading a bunch of papers that you may not be initially familiar with.

"It's a very welcoming place to learn about methods."