38: Sarah E. Gaither, PhD – Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University is Fast Becoming a Leading Researcher in the Field of Multiracial Identities

Masters in Psychology Podcast

Dr. Sarah E. Gaither was born and raised in Sacramento, CA and went to the same school from kindergarten through 12th grade. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate work before doing two gap years at UCLA in Southern California. She states “I never knew I wanted to go to Graduate School until those gap years and it was me actually running the study where I discovered, through a literature review of all things which I know lots of people don’t like doing, but through this literature review, I actually discovered that in 2008 there wasn’t a single paper in psychology that had a biracial sample. I’m a biracially identified person. My dad’s black, my mom’s white. I look very white presenting and so for me, this literature review which most people hate was actually what pushed me to want to apply to graduate school.” Dr. Gaither applied to both social and developmental PhD programs because she has always been interested in kids and families, and identity development. During our discussion, she explains how she ended up at Tufts University in Medford, MA for her master’s and doctorate in Social Psychology. She also explains some of the processes she went through while applying to graduate schools and offers impactful advice to those interested in the field of psychology, especially those interested in earning a doctorate in psychology. In fact, she has a YouTube video which offers “5 Pieces of Advice for PhD Candidates” which we also discuss in addition to some new, updated advice she often offers her current students and other students she is mentoring. Dr. Gaither is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. While discussing her academic and professional journey, Dr. Gaither states that she “applied to 44 jobs across developmental psychology, faculty positions, social psychology, and a few business schools actually.” For her, one of the main factors in choosing Duke over other universities was the location. Duke University is located in Durham, NC which, she explains, “is very split between white and black populations and it’s one of the most racially integrated places I’ve ever lived. So, for me, being able to recruit multiracial and racial ethnic minority participants, it’s very rare to find, what we call a research one university, like Duke, to be located in a city that actually has a ton of racial integration. So that was a big selling point for me.” In this podcast, Dr. Gaither briefly shares why someone should consider the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University around 18 minutes into our conversation followed by a brief description of what a typical day looks like for her as an Assistant Professor. She highlights the academic freedom and job flexibility to ask the questions you want to ask and explains “you can literally make every day yours.” Now that she has young kids (twins), she very much appreciates the flexible academic schedule and states “I wouldn’t trade that for the world…I love being an academic.” Dr. Gaither discusses the importance of getting direct research experience if you are interested in getting into a psychology PhD program. She states, “It’s essential. I don’t think anyone will get into a psychology PhD program regardless if it’s social, developmental, clinical without direct research experience. It’s getting more and more competitive every year as we look through our own graduate pools…So, working in research labs, I think, is a must.” As the Director and Principal Investigator of the Duke Identity & Diversity Lab, Dr. Gaither helps guide the research done by the lab members and other collaborators. The Lab team also strives to apply their research to the real-world and showcases their work on their “In The News/Media page.” During our discussion, Dr. Gaither also shares her views regarding the different areas or branches of psychology and believes many of them are not that different. She states,