As her light brown ponytail bounces with nods of enthusiasm, Jane Grdinovac talks about her passions: traveling, toast and researching. Grdinovac, senior in psychology, is one of K-State's few undergraduate researchers and recently gave a presentation on her work at the 13th annual K-State Research Forum, an honor extended to only 25 undergraduates. "She was quite professional," said Robert Downey, Grdinovac's research adviser and professor of psychology, about her presentation. "I thought she did an excellent job presenting her findings clearly and explaining her work to the judges and audience." FAMILY TIES Grdinovac tells the story of her family's unusual start: Her parents met, fell in love and got married - all in one week. Her parents are Croatian and were both born and raised there, living periodically in the U.S. When Grdinovac turned two, the family moved permanently from Croatia to Kansas City, Kan., where her parents opened a barbecue restaurant. "We all worked in [the restaurant] while we were growing up," she said smiling, recalling the simple joys of her childhood. "I loved it because I got to be around my family and it was just a great atmosphere." Grdinovac attributes her success in life to her tight-knit family background. She had an aunt and uncle with several children whom she lived next door to in Kansas City. "My parents would decide to move across town or to a new neighborhood, and [her aunt and uncle] would just move next door to us each time," she said. "It was crazy." Still chuckling at her family, Grdinovac shares a few of her own quirks. For example, she has a twin brother and an obsession with eating toast. "It's just so good," she said. "I can't help it - I eat like four pieces a day, at least." Though she is close to her family, Grdinovac has always been independent, so when it came time to look at colleges, she said she knew K-State was the right school for her. Though neither of her parents had attended college, they strongly encouraged all three of their children to pursue degrees. "They just really wanted us to be successful, and so they pushed us to apply and go where we wanted," she said.

GETTING HER START Grdinovac decided to enroll as a psychology major, though she was still uncertain what she wanted to do for a career. During her freshman year, she took a clinical psychology course that she said she didn't enjoy. However, she also took an industrial psychology course, taught by Downey, and she said class is what sparked her interest in industrial psychology. "I liked it because you get to increase employee satisfaction by doing more than just sitting and talking," Grdinovac said. "With the clinical side, you just hear all of the emotions, and you don't always feel like you're helping anybody." Grdinovac took another of Downey's classes, and he mentioned undergraduate research to the students. It caught her attention, so she contacted him and the two met to discuss researching job burnout, job flow and work exhaustion - all effects of a response pattern of emotional exhaustion. One of her first independent projects focused on the college stress levels of a local sorority her senior year, including factors like depersonalization and personal acceptance. "We were trying to find the differences between greeks and non-greeks," Grdinovac said. "But we didn't really find too much difference in their stress levels, only a minor bit." As a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Grdinovac said life can be hectic, trying to balance greek activities, classes and her research work. Downey said Grdinovac is a meticulous researcher and has innovative ideas when planning her next step. "She is always thinking ahead," he said. "She is just a responsible, intelligent young student. I see great things from her."

THE NEXT STEP Though she is anxious to graduate and put all she has learned to use, Grdinovac said she would like to attend graduate school before she begins a professional career. "You just can't do much with an [undergraduate degree] in the psychology world," she said. "I'd like to go to grad school just so I could get a job anywhere I wanted." Grdinovac said she also has dreams of traveling, working in foreign countries and different cites around the U.S. "I don't want to be tied down," she said.