The University of Iowa Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences has set up shop in its new research hub in Cedar Rapids.
After a nearly six-year search for building space, hub manager Bob McMurray finally settled on a location, 2740 First Ave. NE, in June.
McMurray said he previously had a lab in a different building in Cedar Rapids for four years but was forced to find a new location after the building owner sold the space last summer.
Since then, three labs have opened in the new hub. McMurray is studying the connection between one’s social life and how one processes language. Bruce Bartholow and Michelle Voss — both professors of psychology and brain sciences — are looking at the effects of alcohol on adolescents and which skills can prevent older adults from approaching exercise with negative attitudes, respectively.
McMurray said he was looking to expand his research to Cedar Rapids to diversify the participants in his studies. He said Cedar Rapids is more diverse than Iowa City on many levels and wanted to recruit people who aren’t entirely familiar with what a research study is.
“I’d like to know that what we learn is also relevant to families from other demographics, different races, different ethnicities, different levels of family education, and so forth, so we wanted to start testing kids outside of Iowa City,” McMurray said.
Bartholow echoed the importance of reaching a more diverse sample of participants to improve his research.
“More than 80 percent of the research on alcohol use has been done with college students,” he said. “By expanding our recruitment into a community with a different type of population, we’re going to learn a lot more about the risk factors and protective factors related to alcohol use and problems.
Since the hub is now much closer to a larger pool of people, McMurray said that sample sizes can increase because participants won’t have to commute to Iowa City. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Cedar Rapids is around 138,000, while Iowa City’s population is just under 75,000.
McMurray said more labs also allow for more research assistant opportunities for UI students. Fourth-year student Emily Bunnell has been working in the lab since it opened. She said working with more kids has improved her research skills and helped reveal a path for her post-graduate plans.
“You learn how to do a lot of stuff and figure out how to run things, which is, I think, a great skill,” Bunnell said. “It’s also great for building communication skills, and it gives you a great mentor. Overall, it’s a pretty great opportunity.”
Aside from strengthening the UI’s research and educational opportunities, McMurray and Bartholow both said this hub will benefit many people in Cedar Rapids.
McMurray’s lab has run tests and given data to the Cedar Rapids Community School District to help assess approaches to cognitive barriers students may face.
“Last year, we tested a new reading intervention in the school,” he said. “We did the testing and the statistical work to prove that it worked. It did work, and they got something really concrete out of it, which is going to help their kids read.”
Additionally, the hub has been recruiting students from Coe College as research assistants, which McMurray said is a valuable collaboration since students studying at Coe don’t typically have as many research opportunities as UI students.
Life-long Cedar Rapidian Nathan Homan is a Coe College graduate and now works in McMurray’s lab in his hometown. He said he’s excited this hub is exposing college students and younger kids to brain and language sciences.
“Being able to help the local college, have people from Kirkwood and also younger kids involved, and exposing them to what psychology research can be has been really cool,” Homan said. “I work with third to sixth-graders most of the time, and some of them are extremely interested in what we're doing. Being able to sow that seed in the younger generation is really valuable to me.”