We would greatly appreciate recommendations on software that are helpful in research or science education.  Please email the lab director with your recommendations.

Sure Delete (Free)
This software permanently deletes data from a hard drive or computer.  A common misunderstanding is that when you delete a file, it is gone.  In fact, it is not actually erased (yes, even if you empty your recycle bin as well).  Windows marks the file as “deleted” and “available” to be written over when the space on your hard drive needs to be used by another file.  Until another file is written over your “deleted” file, it is 100% accessible through numerous free recovery programs.  This is a particularly important point for research and therapy as we must take all possible steps to insure patient/participant data is completely secure.  It is rumored that the new version of this program will not be free.  However, I have tested the older version and it works just fine in Both XP and Vista.*  You can download it from CNS Lab here in Zip format.
(*I accept no liability for damage/loss/change in data/computer/software/life as the result of using this program)

ReadPlease (Free)
Proofreading something you have written can be difficult.  We know what we want to say and how we (think) we wrote the sentence.  When you have finished that big essay, dissertation, or letter to the Director of NIH, cut-and-paste it into this program.  It will read you what you have written, allowing you to adjust the rate of speech, size of text, and highlight each word as it is said.  You will instantly catch missing words you SWORE where in the sentence.  Further, those awkwardly written sentences will pop right out at you.  Lastly, research shows that if you read and listen at the same time, you retain and understand the material better.  All of this in a free little program to boot.  (I used it for this paragraph and caught two typos!) 
*If you do not want the upgraded "trial" version, make sure you UNcheck "trial" during installation.  The standard edition works just fine.

Audacity (Free)
Many research projects require the use of sound.  Whether this is a stimulus, such as in my work with startle probes (sounds), or audio instructions, manipulation of audio is crucial.  This free program will allow you to record multiple layers of audio, have sperate audio played to left vs. right ear, re-record segments of an already complete audio file, and many other things.  This program will also allow you to export your audio file in multiple formats.  The latter is more applicable to researchers in general and should be considered.  We are all aware of bias in response that can occur based on our interaction with participants.  How is your RA explaining the instructions?  Are they inserting their own tid-bits?  Are they speaking too monotone?  Are they in a bad mood and being short with participant X? Recording instructions/directions into an audio file and playing it to each participant will standardize the directions given and ensure that each participant gets the same directions, in the same way.

G*Power (Free)
So your dissertation committee or grant review committee thinks you need 10,423 subjects per cell?  Your advisor always goes by the rule-of-thumb of 50 subjects per cell?  Why settle for idiosyncratic assumptions!?!  Use science to justify the exact number of subjects you need.  This free program will allow you to statistically estimate the exact number of subjects required, from a simple T-test to a multilevel regression model.  It will also allow you to print a graph of the subject-to-power estimate.

Dumont-Willis Specific Score Conversion (Free - Excel format)
Simply stated: Enter one stats value, see the associated values on a slew of other stats.  So you need to know what IQ your patient/subject has, but the report only stated that she scored 2.3 standard deviations above average?  Simple!  Put a 2.3 in the Z section and look below.  It will show you the equivalent score for all major standard scores (M = 100 & SD = 15/16).  It will also give you the associated T score, scaled score, and Percentile.  The neat aspect of this program is that it will allow you to enter a value for ANY of the listed statistics and see the equivalent on the other scales.