We are always looking for great RA’s to join our team! A typical week in the lab will involve approximately 8-9 hours of work, mostly running participants and attending lab meetings. These hours will be assigned around your existing school/work schedule. To join the lab, you must be able to attend lab meetings on Wednesdays from 4pm-5pm during the semester. If you’re interested in joining the lab, please complete this application.
Please email our lab email (sparklab@uark.edu) or lab manager, Marius Unnvik (munnvik@uark.edu), if you have any questions about joining the lab.
We do not accept juniors as honors thesis students. Students who join lab as a freshman or sophomore will undergo a probationary period and then, if conditions are met, may pursue their honors thesis with the lab.
Dr. Makhanova is not taking a new graduate student for Fall 2025. Check back to see if Dr. Makhanova is taking a new graduate student for Fall 2026. If you are thinking about applying, consider emailing Dr. Makhanova (ammakhan@uark.edu) about your intentions or with any questions you may have. The ideal graduate student candidate would be interested in a variety of social perception processes. They might be interested in prejudice or romantic relationships or an aspect of social perception that is indirectly related to something currently studied in the lab. Regardless of the particular process/outcome of interest, the ideal candidate would be curious about (1) the biological processes that may influence social perception and (2) what functionality this social behavior may have.
Note: if you are applying to work in this lab as a graduate student you should have some research experience, but it does not necessarily need to be in this exact area. It’s just important that you are interested in this approach and are eager to learn the necessary skills. As a graduate student in this lab, you will learn skills related to conducting experimental studies, longitudinal studies, and biomarker assays in the wet lab.
For more information about applying to the Experimental Psychology Ph.D. Program at the University of Arkansas visit the program page on the Fulbright College website.