By establishing the Center on the campus of a historically black college, the U.S. Army sought to increase the likelihood that outstanding minority undergraduates would become interested in this area of research and that they could be identified, encouraged, and helped to pursue advanced degrees in cognitive science and human factors. Every academic year, CERT employs 12 to 15 undergraduates selected from Morris Brown College, and from three other historically black colleges in the Atlanta University Center, to work as research assistants in the various laboratories. These students are usually psychology, computer science, engineering, or mathematics majors. The great majority continue to work at CERT until graduation. Project investigators serve as mentors for the undergraduate assistants and help them to develop a good general understanding of the principles and methods of scientific research, to become proficient at doing literature searches, at using statistics and graphics software, and at writing computer programs in at least one language.
CERT staff conduct weekly seminars for the undergraduate assistants.
The seminars are usually directed by two or more investigators and concern topics such as history and philosophy of science, history of psychology, and scientific method. A given topic might be discussed over several weeks. There are no rules or expectations other than getting the students interested and involved in the discussions. An important purpose of the seminars is to demystify science, and in particular, psychology, and to show that doing research is a worthwhile and enjoyable way to make a living. CERT has funds earmarked for several graduate fellowships.