Colin Powell School
Spielman Research Lab, Legacy of Harold M. Spielman (Class of ‘50), Facilitates Award-Winning Research on Social Inequality
By Adriana Espinosa, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Spielman Research Lab
The Spielman Social Sciences Research Lab was established by a generous donation by Mr. Harold Spielman in 2013. The mission of the Spielman Lab, as envisioned by Mr. Spielman, is to support Social Science researchers at the Colin Powell School as well as recruit and train the next generation of Social Science researchers. Located on the 7th floor of the North Academic Center, the Spielman lab fulfils this mission by providing faculty, students, and research staff of The Colin Powell School with technology, software, and dedicated space to generate new research ideas and gather and analyze data. The Spielman lab has provided junior faculty as well as many undergraduate and graduate students with research opportunities that have resulted in award-winning thesis projects and presentations at national academic conferences. Similarly, by licensing software programs for the collection and analysis of data (e.g., Qualtrics, MPlus, MAXQDA Analytics Pro), students, faculty, and research staff of the Colin Powell School have been able to gather and analyze new data for their projects, including evaluations of student services and programs. True to Mr. Harold Spielman’s vision, the Spielman lab has led to the creation of research projects that tackle persistent social issues such as disparities in health, racial discrimination, and social inequality. I have used the lab’s facilities and resources for my own work since joining the Department of Psychology in 2014, and was appointed Director of the Spielman lab in June 2019. Without a doubt, Mr. Spielman’s generous gift has created a resource that has had a tremendously positive impact on my work, the work of my peers, and too many students to enumerate. I am truly honored to be affiliated with the Spielman Lab.