Finding Her Footing
Clark enrolled at Ohio State Newark as a psychology major with a pre-med track in autumn 2020 and instantly proved to be a pioneer among her peers. In her first semester, a curious and precocious Clark contacted Melissa Buelow, PhD, a clinical psychology professor, inquiring about research opportunities.
“She was one of the few students ever comfortable enough to take that risk and contact me out of the blue,” Buelow remembered. “As early as her first year, Piper had big goals, so we started working together.”
The duo immediately developed a rapport and research ideas. They studied how gender bias impacts quick decision making. They examined how deliberately giving someone false feedback about their intelligence affects thinking and reasoning. Buelow persuaded her pupil to present those topics at the 2022 Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) conference in Chicago. “That’s where I fell super in love with research,” Clark recalled. “I had an epiphany: that’s what I needed to do.”
So she started doing more. She veered from the pre-med track and joined another lab, this one belonging to Okdie. Sensing Clark’s passion and potential, he allowed her to spearhead the lab’s research on the psychological effects of social media photo editing. “I was more of a consultant than an advisor,” Okdie divulged. “Piper was the sole driver of that project.”
Hitting Her Stride
Clark cruised through the forum circuit in 2023. At Ohio State Newark’s student research forum, she swept the oral presentation category, winning first prize for both proposed and completed research. Her MPA poster was selected for an exclusive symposium during that year’s event. She presented at the American Psychological Association’s (APA) annual convention too.
Her trailblazing tendencies took shape again as she launched her thesis. It focused on the influence of gender bias, and Ohio State funded her efforts through the highly competitive Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP). Not only was it the first time Clark had been paid to conduct research; it was perhaps the first time a psychology student from a regional campus ever earned the summer apprenticeship. Such was certainly the case in Buelow’s lab. “Nobody else had ever even applied for it,” the professor said. But Buelow wasn’t surprised. “Piper is one of the most determined people I have ever met.”
Clark proved it again by publishing her own undergraduate research article. She expounded on her findings about false personality feedback as the paper’s primary author, another trend-setting opportunity. “That’s not something an undergrad student can usually do,” Clark claimed. “Ohio State Newark was such a safe environment that taught me how writing research articles works.”
Hers was accepted just as she earned her bachelor’s degree in December 2023. It was published shortly after she started graduate school in autumn 2024. Two years into a five-year doctorate program in cognitive psychology at the University of Iowa, she recently successfully defended her master’s thesis.