Vincent Culotta, Ph.D., ’81 Psych, strongly believes that in order to be most prepared for their future, students should experience an internship, in addition to excelling in their classes. For this reason, Vincent hosted a Penn State intern at his company, NeuroBehavioral Associates, in Columbia, MD.

Vince is a licensed psychologist with subspecialty training in clinical neuropsychology. He earned his ‘Ph.D. from the University of Memphis and is the president and owner of NeuroBehavioral Associates, a specialty practice serving children, adolescents and adults with known or suspected attention, learning, or neurodevelopmental disorders. NeuroBehavioral Associates provides a broad range of clinical and forensic consultation and assessment services as well a training site for masters and doctoral level graduate students in psychology.

Prior to founding NeuroBehavioral Associates, Vince held clinical and administrative positions in medical, rehabilitation, and private facilities treating children, adolescents, and adults with neurobehavioral disorders. He has authored several publications concerning neurodevelopmental disorders in children and has previously served as director of Neuropsychology in the Neurosurgery Division at the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center.

Vince knew the value of a Penn State education, as a psychology graduate of the college himself, and was aware that a Penn State psychology student could handle his organization’s work environment and focus in neuropsychology. He enthusiastically accepted Claire Semerjian, a rising senior, for a summer internship with NeuroBehavioral Associates in 2009.

Claire was quickly put to work in NeuroBehavioral Associates and was given many relevant tasks including direct observation and participation in neuropsychological assessment, treatment planning and family meetings. Claire also accompanied staff on visits to school IEP meetings, organized data collection, and assisted in research for an upcoming book. Vince found Claire particularly useful when he was interviewing families of younger clients. These clients, ranging from ages five to seventeen, found comfort in talking to Claire because of their closeness in age; she was a student like them as well.

One of the most beneficial lessons of Claire’s internship was the real-life learning and connecting a person to the issues she studied in the classroom. It was one thing to read about autism in a textbook, but completely another to hear first-hand from parents about their difficult journey of finding the right treatment for their child for their autistic child.

In the future, Vince and his staff would like to expand undergraduate internships and engage interns in more research activities so that they may be able publish a research paper in an academic journal, which is a mark of high distinction for a student and their scholarly abilities. Overall, he found that hosting a Penn State student intern was a win-win situation for both parties involved. NeuroBehavioral Associates became more productive during the summer with another helping hand, and Claire gained valuable professional skills and insight for her future career and education.

To learn more about sponsoring a student intern in your company, contact the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network at (814) 865-1070 or lanetwork@la.psu.edu.

All Employer Profiles written by Tara Enzmann, Liberal Arts Alumni and Development Intern