About the Program

Our Program

Our MS in Applied Psychology program is divided into two tracks, both based on the scientist-practitioner model. In this training model, students engage in rigorous quantitative research in psychology and apply scientific knowledge to problems in organizational settings.

Both tracks require 38 units of coursework, a 300-hour internship, and an independent research thesis. These requirements typically take 2 years of full-time work to complete.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Track

The Industrial-Organizational Psychology track covers core topics in industrial-organizational psychology, such as job analysis, performance appraisal, selection, training, motivation, leadership, stress, job attitudes, and occupational health.

Quantitative Methods Track

The Quantitative Methods track covers core topics in univariate and multivariate statistics in psychological research, including multilevel modeling. Students to choose electives to further tailor their education to match their specific career interests/goals. Electives outside of psychology that fit with this track include linguistics (programming), big data analytics, or statistics.

We accept both recent graduates and individuals who have been in the workforce for a number of years. Some elements of our program that make us stand out:

We are a full-time program, so students are making a serious commitment to their graduate training
Financial support, in the form of assistantships (e.g., being a TA), is typically available, so that students can give their full attention to their graduate studies
Our internships give students the opportunity to apply classroom learning and acquire new skills in an organizational setting
Students apply to work with faculty mentors who align with their research interests.
Upon acceptance into the program, students are matched with a faculty mentor with whom they will work with on their thesis and other research projects
We have four full-time, tenured, research-active faculty who have graduated from prestigious I-O psychology doctoral programs

Faculty Research Labs

Both tracks in the MS program have a mentorship match model for thesis requirement. Students work directly with a faculty mentor to complete a research project and assist with other research projects in the laboratory. Before applying to the program, learn more about each faculty member’s focus of research and typical projects by reviewing lab websites and past research publications to see if there is a good match. Be sure to mention how your research interests match specific faculty members in your personal statement. Some helpful advice on choosing a mentor in the quant methods track can be found here.

Larissa (Lacie) K. Barber

B.A. University of Missouri, St. Louis; M.S., Ph.D., Saint Louis University.

Research Interests: Sleep and employee behavior, sleep and employee stress/well-being, work-life balance and technology use, stress and employee behaviors (counterproductive work behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors), positive psychology in the workplace.

Lab: OHS Lab, Currently accepting new students

Jeffrey M. Conte

B.A., University of Virginia; M.S., Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University.

Research Interests: Personnel assessment & selection, personality, psychological testing & measurement, stress, type A behavior pattern, temporal issues, time management, safety factors at work

Lab: Personality Measurement Lab, Currently accepting new students

Kate Hattrup

B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara; M.A., Ph.D., Michigan State University

Research Interests: Cross-cultural I/O Psychology, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, employee well-being, sexual harassment in the workplace, human resource management

Lab: BEST Lab, Not currently accepting new students

Jon Helm

B.S., M.S., Ph.D., University of California, Davis.

Research Interests: Develops and refines statistical models that (1) measure psychological constructs, and (2) analyze longitudinal data. Uses both frequentist and Bayesian approaches to estimate novel multilevel and structural equation models designed to either separate psychological constructs from a variety of method effects, or summarize how psychological constructs unfold over time.

Lab: STATs Lab (Statistical Techniques Applied to Social Science lab), Currently accepting new students

Lisa M. Kath

B.S. University of California, Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., University of Connecticut

Research Interests: Training motivation and effectiveness, self-efficacy, organizational climate and change, women and minorities in the workplace.

Lab: POWER Lab, Currently accepting new students

Georg (Jörg) Matt

Dipl. Psych., Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat, Freiburg, Germany; Ph.D., Northwestern University

Research Interests: Tobacco smoke pollution and exposure, secondhand smoke, thirdhand smoke, tobacco control policies; quantitative research methods, quasi-experimentation, field research, evaluation research, meta-analysis, generalizability; measurement, fuzzy set theory, cognitive models of self-reports, fuzzy set models of magnitude estimates.

Lab: Measurement and Evaluation Research Group (MERG), Currently accepting new students

Scott C. Roesch

B.S., University of California, Davis; M.A., California State University, Long Beach; Ph.D., University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Research Interests: Trait-state models of stress and coping; coping with physical illness, and particularly cancer; cultural, ethnic, and acculturation differences in stress and coping; cross-ethnic measurement equivalence; structural equation modeling, meta-analysis.

Lab: Stress and Coping, Not currently accepting new students

David Marx

B.A., U.C. Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University

Research Interests: Research focuses on several aspects of social cognition including stereotypes, social comparison, and attention. One primary line of research centers on defining and refining stereotype threat.

Lab: Stereotyping, Education, and Person Perception (STEPP) Lab, Currently accepting new students

Alumni

Our alumni get jobs at a variety of public and private sector organizations. Here are some companies that have employed our alumni:

Visa
Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District
Amazon
Spotify
Activision/Blizzard
APTMetrics
Center for Creative Leadership
San Diego City College
Sutter Health
Dell
Aptima
Petco
FEMA
General Atomics
Electronic Arts
SHL
Intuit
Booz Allen Hamilton
Pinterest
Cedars-Sinai

Featured Alumni

Lauren Farahnak, MS

I’m a Senior Manager in Accenture Strategy’s Talent and Organization practice, helping external clients develop talent solutions and experiences to achieve business priorities and optimize performance. In my work, I travel across the US to meet with clients, primarily Chief HR Officers and Talent Management Leads, as well as to attend conferences and development programs. My projects and thought leadership focus on topics such as future workforce skills, talent strategy, digital transformation, employee experience, and strategic workforce planning.

The SDSU I/O Master’s program helped me build knowledge, experience, and confidence to advise clients on a range of talent topics and opportunities. These credentials also provide credibility with clients who have similar backgrounds or who have worked successfully with I/O Psychologists. I am extremely grateful to the program and faculty for setting me up for an exciting, fast-paced career in consulting.

Bryan Aasen, MS

SDSU’s I/O Psychology Master’s program prepares you for a wide variety of career paths in the I/O space. You do much more than soak up information at SDSU’s program- you build critical thinking skills and learn how to apply academic research techniques to the business world.

I currently work as a Senior HR Research and Analysis Advisor at SDG&E. Previously, I worked on Qualcomm’s People Analytics team where I analyzed a wealth of people data including hiring, turnover, performance data, and employee surveys. Before Qualcomm, I had a similar role working for Walmart. The biggest challenge in a role like this is how to take a huge amount of data and condense it into concise, useful insights that business leaders can understand and take action on. The critical thinking skills that I developed at SDSU’s program has been instrumental in my success, and I look forward to where my career takes me next.