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Dr. Bu's Research Lab

Research Interests 

Dr. Bu is interested in social identity, sense of belonging, and their antecedents and consequences, particularly for political engagement and social change. She is also interested more broadly in stereotyping, prejudice, and intergroup relations, political psychology, and psychology and law. Her current/ongoing research projects involve the following:

  • Sense of belonging in one’s state: How do we measure it, how does it relate to political engagement, and how is it affected by laws and policies targeting particular groups?
  • Social identity, intergroup contact, and support for policies affecting minority groups
  • Contextual cues signaling identity threat or safety and college students’ sense of belonging

Both graduate and undergraduate students predominantly work on projects relating to the above research areas but have some flexibility in exact topics based on shared interests and motivation. Dr. Bu is also open to student-proposed research projects related to her research interests.

Working with Graduate Students 

Graduate students working in Dr. Bu’s lab will gain valuable research experience that will culminate in the completion of a master’s thesis. Students will have access to funding to support their research projects as well as funds for travel to professional conferences. If you are interested in working with Dr. Bu, please contact her to see if she has openings in her lab at wbu@roanoke.edu. 

Working with Undergraduate Students 

Students working in Dr. Bu’s lab work on a variety of tasks, including data entry and coding, literature reviews, study design and recruitment, data collections, data analysis, and, for students progressively working on more independent tasks, study presentation in various forums.

Interested students should be hard working, self-sufficient, and in good academic standing (but can be any level of student, from freshman to upperclassmen). If you are interested in working with Dr. Bu, email her at wbu@roanoke.edu

See Undergraduate Research for more information about opportunities, expectations, and course credits.