On her first day at work she wrote:

"Today is my first day at Shriver and all is well. Here is my data: My new job title is research assistant, in the department of Psychological Sciences. We are working on language acquisition, language disorder, vocabulary intervention and studies of attention. The advice I want to give to the other students is to 1. take part in as many external experiences related to what they want to pursue 2. be active and get involved with clubs 3. take advantage of all the resources that Southampton College offers like Co-ops and internships and 4. always ask questions and find the answers yourself. Some of the most important skills I have learned at Southampton are from participating in the Developmental Psychobiology Journal Club where we read and discussed current research topics in psychobiology. This gave me and others a chance to develop new research topics and formulate new research designs."

Shannon wrote:

"Along with working in the lab, I have been attending a Neurobiology class which is being taught by Dr. Jensen and Dr. Segal (Professors of Neurology at Harvard Medical School). There are a few other people from the lab who attend, but the main students are from Harvard Med. School I believe. It is mainly about epilepsy, and its very interesting. So far I have observed a lot of procedures, learned how to use the microtome and the cryostat to cut brain slices, done some cresyl violet and H & E staining. I have also been able to view a lot of slides of brain slices stained for things such as astrocytes and oligos. There is so much for me to learn here, I love it!"

"I have really gained a lot from the psychobiology program here. I think the most valuable aspect of this program has been all of the opportunities I've had to do hands-on work. Yes, you can learn a lot from textbooks, but labs, co-ops and internships have been ten times as valuable to me. All of the research opportunities I've been offered have prepared me for the challenges I will face when I am out on my own trying to run my own research. Some of the most valuable programs I've experienced at Southampton have included my internship in Naples, Florida; Experimental Psychobiology Methods I and II; and the Psychobiology Journal Club. In Florida I had the opportunity to work with stingrays in their natural habitat. I learned a lot about stingray behavior and about the difficulties of data collection in the field. Experimental Psychobiology Methods I and II have given my the opportunity to pursue an interest in stingray vision which was sparked by my internship. I really value the opportunity to look into this relatively unstudied area."

"And if I'm lucky, the results of this study will be publishable. Finally, the psychobiology journal club gave me the opportunity to broaden my interests and perspectives. I found the opportunity to discuss cutting edge research with other students and professors very exciting. As a result of these discussions I came up with a research question, which I have the opportunity to test this semester. I have been told that this project is considered to be an important area that needs to be studied and I am hoping that the results of my research will be publishable."