Finn

Please provide the tile and a brief summary of your research/conference presentation.
My research with Dr. Onnie Rogers focused on how Black and White parents justify their perceptions of race, and specifically how they rationalize colorblindness. Parents were asked: “How do you think your life would be different if you were Black/White?”, where Black parents answer about being White, and White parents answer about being Black. The first part was multiple choice. Parents selected that their life would be (1) Better, (2) the Same, or (3) Worse. The second part asked parents to explain their answer choice in a free response. We inductively coded and thematically analyzed open-ended responses where parents believed that their life would be the same. We found that there are multiple qualitatively distinct ways parents justify colorblindness, including foregrounding individual autonomy, erasure of race, diversion from race, and emphasizing inherent commonalities.

What made you initially interested in researching your project in particular?
I took a developmental psychology class with Dr. Rogers in the fall of my first year and absolutely loved both her and her topic of research.

What conference(s) did you present at and how did you find out about them?
I had the opportunity to present my findings at the Northwestern undergraduate research expo, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology expo. Dr. Rogers encouraged me to apply to both and I was fortunate enough to be accepted. Both were spectacular learning experiences!

What was it like presenting at a conference? Anything that you didn’t expect?
Both of my presentations were virtual, so they were very different from what I would imagine an in person conference to be like. One thing that I did not expect was how difficult it can be to distill hours and hours of work into a five minute presentation. Without clear and understandable articulation of results, even high quality research becomes useless.

Any tips or advice you have for students similar to you that are interested in presenting at a conference one day?
Do not be afraid to try for opportunities even if you feel unqualified. Even if you don’t get them, you will learn a lot from the experience of preparing for it, which will make you better equipped for the next try.

What is your most useless talent?
I can make a clover with my tongue.