Virtual Open House Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology Transcript

Afra Ahmad: All right, well, welcome, everyone! Thank you all so much for joining us this evening. Tonight we are having the open house for people coming into the spring of 2026, or as someone mentioned, maybe you’re not ready to start in January, but you’re interested in hearing more about us for a future term. But this is the open house for George Mason University’s Master of Professional Studies in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology. So maybe you know a little bit about I.O, maybe you don’t, but I hope by the end of tonight’s session, you learn more about our program, and what I.O. is, and how we can sort of help your academic and professional goals. So we… we do have a lot to cover tonight. If you have questions, please, please, please do put them in the chat. We have, Dr. Stagel, who’s monitoring the chat, as well as our admissions reps and stuff, so please put them in the chat, and we’ll pause here and there to make sure we’re addressing all of them, but we do want to make sure that we get through all this information for you all to have. For the future, alright? So, with that, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Afro said Ahmad. I am the program director. I’m a longtime Mason Patriot. I went to undergrad and did my master’s and PhD in I.O. My research interests are in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I’m really excited to tell you more about our program, our students, and we have alumni that we’re featuring tonight as well. So stay tuned for all that good stuff, and I’ll turn it over to Dr. Stable. You’re on mute.

Kevin Stagl: Back to the room, I’m taking a screenshot of all of you that are attending, so we can track who’s pre-applied and who hasn’t. But I am Kevin Stagle, the Assistant Director and an assistant professor here at George Mason University. I will be your first instructor. So, I have been in I.O. for about 30 years now. Started as, an intern at UCF, actually as an intern at assessment before UCF, but went on to UCF and, got my, earned my PhD there with the great Eduardo Salas, who you’re gonna, here’s research you’re gonna read while you’re in this program. former PSYOP president. And, then went on to a series of, consultancies and defense incubators, R&D incubators for defense agencies, and Ultimately, after about 25, 26 years, came here to Mason, and so I am… starting in the private sector and spending quite a bit of time in R&D for the government, and now here in academia, and I’d like to bring all of that practical expertise to you during this program. So, I look forward to meeting each of you during the first course, and perhaps the further courses downstream. I also lead some courses downstream, so looking forward to connecting with each of you. Welcome.

Afra Ahmad: Alright, thank you. So, for those of you that may know about us, we are George Mason University in Northern Virginia. We did begin in 1956 as the Northern Virginia branch of UVA. We became our own institution in 1972, and we’re the largest public university in Virginia. We are classified by the Carnegie system as an R1 doctoral research university, which is the highest rating possible, and that’s important because we’re going to be talking about something called the scientist-practitioner model in I.O. So we have scientists here, researchers here, conducting top-tier research, and as Dr. Stagel mentioned, he talked about his advisor, but, you know, when you take courses with us, you’re going to recognize many of the Mason faculty that are teaching or have developed your classes. We do have three campuses in Northern Virginia, and then a campus in South Korea, and several online programs, and I noticed someone who mentioned they might be interested in MSW and is checking out I.O, so I know MSW has an online program, and I’m glad you’re here tonight to check out the MPS program. Our program, was founded in 1972, the I.O. program, and we have faculty members who have been prominent in both academia and practice, and several of our faculty members have held positions as president of our professional organization. Fun fact, one of the faculty… current faculty members is running for president right now for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. So, if he gets elected, that would make the sixth faculty member, serving in that role. Several of our graduates have gone on to work in universities and top organizations. I noticed someone mentioning here tonight they were from Booz Allen. We’ve had several graduates at Booz Allen and some other reputable, organizations. And so, our faculty hasSeveral full-time members, 10 full-time members, and a large body of adjunct instructors as well, who are working in the fields and coming back and sharing their expertise with you all. So we are the largest I.O. program in the nation. And so, in terms of the MPS program, now the PhD-MA program began in 1972, we launched in 2019, right before the pandemic. And like all of our programs, but more so, we have that emphasis on the scientist-practitioner model. We are trying to prepare you, for an applied career. Now, the interesting thing is that several of our students, they come from Diverse educational backgrounds, meaning they just graduated last semester to graduated 30 years ago, and several of our students also are in different levels. you know, in different positions, in different organizations, they come in from healthcare, IT, entry-level positions to more senior-level positions, and what I notice is that our students are really trying to leverage I.O. knowledge and skill sets to either be better at their current job, or make a career change, or find other ways to apply the I.O. skills and competencies that you’ll get out of the program. So we do have alumni here tonight who’ll talk about what that looks like and means for them. But, just something to, you know, think about. In terms of coursework, you’ll be taking classes for a year and a half, spring, summer, and fall. Three, you know, the… we do take… have classes offered all three semesters, and won’t be like undergrad, where it’s just summer and fall. We do follow an 8-week modular schedule, and what that means is when you take a class in the fall and spring, you’ll take two classes each term, for eight weeks long, so one class at a time. So eight weeks for the you know, Fall Session 1, and then 8 weeks for Fall Session 2. In the summer, they’re slightly compressed a little bit into seven weeks, and every single class that you take will have applied projects and assessment. There’ll be things that, if you were to go into selection, you would be doing a validation study or job analysis project, those things that you would be doing, for those types of tasks and roles, you’ll be doing in the classes with us. And in, in our practicum course, you’re actually going to be completing your own applied research project.Some things that make our program unique, we do have faculty that are experts and innovators. They’ve written books, they’ve written scholarly articles, they’ve published in both the scholarly space as well as the applied space. They present widely in conferences, and get competitive grants, and have partnerships. And we are competitively priced for a respectable master’s degree program. We have done an analysis and done a comparative analysis of that. We do have the online format to accommodate your busy working schedules and work-life balance. So, you know, everything, when you enroll in a class, you’ll… you have asynchronous access to the entire 8 weeks.And then you’ll be tuning in. Of course, we want you to take it a week at a time. You won’t be able to do more than that. But, you know, you’ll have access. to office hours, which are, you know, they consist of many guest lectures, they have, guest speakers, and I will say that here at Mason, while they’re optional, there is a norm where most students are attending office hours because they find so much value in the information that they learn. They get to connect with the professors, learn new content, information, ask questions. Engage with their peers, so they are, you know, participating in those ways. We do have some financial aid programs and access to career services and other, things that we’ll be sharing with you all, and it’s good to know that Mason’s I.O. program is ranked number 5. And so, if you look at all the top rankings for, you know, when you’re comparing I.O. programs across the country, Mason doesn’t land in the top 5.

Kevin Stagl: And for the… for the record, the PhD program’s top 5. The master’s programs, MPS programs particularly, online programs, are unranked. There really are very few competitors. There perhaps is one at another elite institution, but in reality, our scale is such that we kind of own this market, and we kind of set the pace. And so, there are 25 faculty members here to support you. at least 5 administrators, and no one else can boast any kind of scale like that. So, we are all here, and these faculty, these SIAT fellows that I’m… these are your instructors. They’re not just people in the PhD program. They teach in our program. You’re going to get access to them. You will often, as you matriculate the program, get access to multiple instructors at the same time who teach multiple sections. You’ll be invited to multiple concurrent office meetings during the same week. And so, we’re very proud of our program, so please offer.

Afra Ahmad: So, in terms of our curriculum, we do offer, you know, 10 classes that you’ll all be taking for a total of 30 credits. And you’ll notice on the left side, those are your required courses. So, you start off the program with an introduction to the science and practice of IO psychology, taught by Dr. Stagel. Now, I would say this is one of the most… the most important courses in the program, because you’re getting acclimated to grad school, you’re getting acclimated to online learning, you’re getting acclimated to I.O. terminology, the field, and all the jargon we use. And it’s really setting you up for success for the later courses. And then you dive into Foundations of Org Psych, and then your first applied data analysis class. Now, do not let that scare you. The alums can share that they’re all very much doable and very exciting, and it’s amazing how much they learn and grow and accomplish in a short amount of time. And then, Foundations of Industrial Psych, and then your second data analysis class, then Employee Selection, Research Methods, and Practicum. Now, you have an option to take two electives. And so, it is very difficult to choose from all those amazing electives, because you have an option to take leadership in the workplace, motivation, well-being, teamwork, organizational change and development, performance management, and workplace training. We do solicit your feedback, so by cohort, we do collect data on the electives that you’re interested in, and so we take that information, and I will staff and schedule classes based on that. So the cohort coming up, if they ranked org change and development top, you know, number one, that’s the one that’s definitely going to be offered. And then, you know, I’d go down the list. Of course, every elective may not be offered every term, but I will say students end up with their top three, for sure, and so they get very pleased by that. A lot of times people have questions about the practicum. When they hear the word practicum, they ask themselves, well. I already work. Do I have to quit my job and go get an internship? And the answer is no. You’re actually going to leverage what you’re doing in the workplace to complete your practicum project. So, as I mentioned earlier, the field of I.O. is built on the scientist-practitioner model. So, here in the practicum course. You… it’s actually a two-part course where you take the research methods for the first 8 weeks, and then you take the practicum for the second 8 weeks. In that research methods course, you are identifying workplace challenge or problem or question that you’re interested in. You’re diving in to a literature review. Then you’re looking at how to collect data. You start, you know, drafting and creating surveys. You actually build out the surveys in Qualtrics. You figure out how you would analyze the data once your data is collected. You have a full research proposal that you’re putting together. Then you, collect data, and a lot of times folks are asking their colleagues and peers, so again, this is where the practicum comes in. They’re leveraging their networks and their workspaces to collect data, and then they conduct a preliminary analysis on the data. write up a results section. Now, not only do you end this practicum experience with a full academic paper that you’ve drafted, you also draft a white paper. One of the things that’s very important in the industry and field is to be able to have these applied communication clientele skills. So, can you communicate all this technical stuff you’re going to be learning about with all these advanced stats classes and I.O. jargon back to a non-technical audience? Because many of you work in spaces that are not filled with I.O. psychologists. You’ll have stakeholders that you need to communicate this information back to. So you work on a white paper and applied presentation that you wrap the class up with. So this is, you know, a two-course proj… like, project and process, and the best news is you don’t have to do it on your own. You work in small teams, and so when you join the program, you start leveraging your network and your peers. To really maximize that experience. The other thing I wanted to mention is, as I noted, that we have several electives that are offered, and sometimes students ask me, what if I want to take more electives? What does that look like? Well, there’s a couple ways you can do that. One is you can actually stack on a certificate to your degree, so what that means is you can graduate with a master’s degree and a graduate certificate in human capital and HR Management. And so, if you look at the requirements, so in terms of the core courses, half of them are our psychology courses. Now, this certificate is offered in partnership with the Costello College of Business here at George Mason University. So those MBA courses are housed with them, but half of those core courses are with us, and then you can choose one of the elective courses, and again. We have half of those offerings are ours, and so if you want to take more than two electives, you can say, alright, the two electives I pick are training and performance management took care of my core, and I just need to take one more after I… and I can walk away with my master’s degree and certificate. So that’s one way that you can sort of take more classes with us. I’m gonna pause right there. I know I’ve been talking for a while. Do we have any questions? Thoughts, comments?

Kevin Stagl: Yeah, there’s some questions in here. From the top here, I am currently… I am comparing master’s… can you confirm whether the alumni from your program, more often culture, building, leadership, and communication roles, or data-driven data analytics roles? I have something teed up for that. There are the major employers of your peers, although there are 700 of your peers, and they all work, most of them, the vast, vast majority. And we encourage them, and we help them seek employment, and secure it, and It’s… it’s a… it’s a vast spectrum of work. And so some people do not work in highly quantitative positions, but the world of work is definitely, arcing in that direction towards data-driven decision-making, and so we are fully going to prepare you for that, those demands and requirements. But those are, some of the, 46 of the employers of your peers. So, .

Stephanie Rabelo: I don’t.

Kevin Stagl: Good job.

Stephanie Rabelo: Sorry, I don’t see that, the 46, and what I see projected is the career outcomes.

Kevin Stagl: Okay, they’re in the chat.

Stephanie Rabelo: Oh, okay.

Kevin Stagl: Click your chat.

Stephanie Rabelo: Oh, thank you.

Kevin Stagl: The next question is, you’re welcome. The next question is, aside from the practicum at the end of the program, what opportunities are there for research?

Afra Ahmad: All right.

Kevin Stagl: Go ahead.

Afra Ahmad: I was gonna say, I did notice… so thank you for answering that first question, and… Stephanie, I will say that, our students, they enter positions covering all of those areas, right? So you have data analytics, communications, HR, and I will say that one place that you can check out is our GMU IO newsletter. The newsletter at the end has a good news section where we share where students are getting hired. It would be great for you to sort of peruse and see where the MPS students are getting hired, and that data has been collected for the last 5-6 years. In terms of research, it’s sort of foreshadowing what some of our students can do. We have an alum here tonight who has mentioned in the chat that he dived into academia, so we’ll come back to some of those questions and the Q&A, okay? Yeah, awesome.

Stephanie Rabelo: Thank you.

Afra Ahmad: You’re welcome. So, in terms of career outcomes, yes, they go into… like, to piggyback off of what Stephanie was saying, you have a lot of opportunities. You don’t… when you’re looking at job ads. And Dr. Staplan can speak to this as well, you are not just searching up industrial organizational psychologists, there is a variety of words that you’re going to be looking up. And so, that’s the neat thing about the field of I.O, is that you can get your hands into, sort of, whatever area you’re most interested in. If you’re really data-driven, yes, there are data analytics-related positions that require, you know, more of the stats training and competencies, but if you’re like, I want to stay away from that and do more of the human capital side, or whatever side, there’s… you are also able to do that, so it’s really neat to be able to see that, and in Dr. Stagel’s first class, he goes over it pretty exhaustively, like O-Net, and all the different titles, and all the different spaces and places that you would be able to sort of use your I.O. knowledge and competencies to land a job, okay?

Kevin Stagl: And just for the record, there is a comment that I have to amplify here by, Major Jacob Johnson, one of your elite peers at UConn, studying to earn his PhD. Just a trendsetter, a trailblazer. I don’t have the proper adjectives right now to describe his work, but, some of your peers are, at the very top of academic programs and PhD programs right now. So you have many different paths that you could possibly pursue. They’re not all applied consulting jobs. And, that’s a path, there are different options we can help you consider and plan for, and, and execute. So, I’m gonna talk to you in a moment, so I’ll shut up about that, but we’re, just amazed that Of all the different opportunities that people secure. Where can we access more information about the fellowships?

Afra Ahmad: I think, what Dr. Stagel was alluding to were PSYOP fellow is a status where senior folks in the field, apply for and get. So, that is the fellowship status that is for senior IO psychologists. But if you are talking about, perhaps, funding opportunities, I do have a slide that’s coming up more about that, if that’s What that question’s related to.

Kevin Stagl: Couple more. How do you anticipate the growth of AI will impact the job market demand for I.O. skill sets and services?

Afra Ahmad: These are some good questions. All right, I’m gonna let you… I’m gonna let you answer some of these in the chat while I get through some of the slides, and then when it’s the free Q&A, I think, we can definitely come back to some of these. So professional development opportunities. I know there was a question earlier about research, and I’ll get to that in a second, but there’s a lot of different professional development opportunities. So, when you’re here with us at Mason, you are diving into coursework and building your knowledge and competencies. Several of our students, especially those who are interested in getting more out of their degree and program, are taking advantage of those office hours. They’re engaging with their peers and faculty for career support. So, if you’re joining office hours, you’re asking questions, you might even ask them to review your resume. You might connect with peers who will be on the hiring end. It’s very good to network while you’re here in the program, because you might be looking for a job or a job switch, and those are the folks you want to connect with in person, in the office hours, and so forth. We also have the MPS program-wide fireside chat, so what that allows is for you to connect with program leadership, so Dr. Stagel or myself will host this for all cohorts. We’ll invite internal and external speakers about different topics. But sort of the advantage for that is that you don’t just connect with your cohort, the people you might see in this room tonight. You’ll connect with people across cohorts, and that’s really neat because, again, one of the goals is to build your network while you’re in the program. In the IELT learning series, so… Some of you mentioned an interest in research. This is… the learning series is sort of like the weekly collicia or brown bag that we have that’s open to PhD, MA, and MPS students, as well as alumni during the academic year in spring and fall. And I would say about 80% of the learning series programming is focused on research. We invite prominent scholars in the field to come in and share research projects and cutting-edge research with you all, and so that would be one place to learn more about that. In addition, we have the first learning series of the academic year in the fall faculty here at George Mason University. They share more about their research labs, and they’ll share any opportunities that they might have in their research labs. So, in the MPS program, we do have a small handful of students who are interested in getting more involved in research, who have reached out to the faculty, full-time, tenure-track faculty here, and joined their research labs, and taken advantage of that opportunity to connect with the PhD and MA students. And research going on. We have university career service experts who review your resume, cover letter, practice interviews, get you access to virtual career fairs as well as in-person career fairs in the area. And, there’s in-person engagement, so we just had our fall picnic last weekend. It was scheduled earlier in the semester, but we got rained out, so it was rescheduled for last weekend, but we had about, 10 MPS students that came to that. We have a spring happy hour, and then winter and spring, you know, obviously graduates are flying in and coming and celebrating their graduations. We do have a huge number that show up there. And then the PSYOP conference, the location varies. This upcoming year, it’s in New Orleans, but we have 30 to 40 MPSers that are joining, the PSYOP conference, so a lot of in-person interactions and engagement. You’ll also get announcements. Whenever recruiters email us, we’re able to send out internships, announcements, and job opportunities. Add me on LinkedIn, I’m constantly sharing those on LinkedIn as well. And, you know, consulting competitions, any neat opportunities that the field allows for, we are sharing that with you all. So those are all the different ways to build Some professional development while you’re with us. In terms of maybe a question that was asked earlier about fellowships, what I think it’s alluding to is more scholarship or grant or financial support, and so we do have two opportunities for that. Well, one is that students of ours, they have a couple of ways that they fund their tuition with us. One is, they’re self-paying for it, they’re applying for financial aid. They might be getting reimbursement from their employers, or using their GI Bill, and then some funding… internal funding opportunities we have is where, we give a one-time $2,500 tuition award to two students each semester, and the other one is for your professional development. You get $500 to cover the cost for a conference or workshop. And again, the goal is really we want you to enhance your expertise in the field, and so those applications and information is typically sent out via email and made available in our community page that we have. So, I’m going to pause before turning it over to the guest speakers and take a look at, I want to see you all, or some of you who are, here tonight and sharing your screen. It’s great to see you all, if you’re able to turn on your cameras. Let me go down. I know that Dr. Stagel might be answering some of the questions, but I will see… if there are any that I can address.

Kevin Stagl: Just, as she’s doing that, to back up one slide, we have a scholarship and a travel fund. When you’re researching what master’s programs offer. Write that down and ask that question. Scholarship, and a travel fund. Those are brand new, just rolling them out right now, and we’re looking forward to even furthering your networking and learning outside the program. So… There’s many questions offered at the bottom.

Afra Ahmad: No, I’m taking a look at them. So I think we’ve addressed a good number of them. So in terms of the AI, as it’s been mentioned, there’s a lot that PSYOP’s putting out there. We have faculty who are… faculty experts that are studying this topic in different spaces as it relates to talent, goals, assessment, and so forth. It’s a lot. I mean, I will say that If you’re asking for what we, you know, what maybe I personally see or what we see, I think that one thing here at George Mason University, we truly do believe in the value of building your foundational knowledge. We recognize that AI is here and is not going anywhere, but it is imperative that you get a strong and good education, because if you do not have a strong education, background in the field, you will not be able to utilize AI as a tool to help maximize performance in the workspace. And so, our primary goal here is to give you a solid foundation in the field, and that way, because we all know AI has its flaws, and we are learning as students are trying to utilize AI that they’re, you know, they may cite articles that don’t exist, or articles from poor journals. So our… our sort of program motto is do not use AI as your… in your learning experience with us here. Learn what it can do as a tool, but do not build your foundational knowledge and skills with us. And that way you can recognize, because Dr. Stagel and I can look at journal articles and say, that one sounds fishy, doesn’t exist, but again, because of the foundations we’ve had in our training, and that’s what we hope to do for you all, is provide that training, and that way you can utilize it in the future as a tool, but not as a core competency. In terms of, you know, writing sort of the research questions. as I mentioned, career roles, a variety, all of those ones that are mentioned, our students are either already in those types of roles, consulting, assessment, program design, or general leadership roles, or they’re obtaining those positions, and that can all be noticed. When you are checking out our newsletter, if somebody could put the link to that in the chat, when you’re checking out our newsletter, there’s two places you can take a look to get a feel for our students. One is every newsletter, we do welcome our current cohort, and in that welcome, we have their name, the type of positions they currently have, the type of organizations they’re in, and then at the end, we have the Good News Corner, where people are obtaining these different roles. So it’s, it’s really neat to see. And, you know, there’s not… the… our program doesn’t necessarily cater to one industry. We have… you’ll notice in there that we have healthcare, military, biotech, academia, we have folks from all different industries in our program. In terms of… program connections for internships and employments. Something you’ll learn about when you’re in our program is that there are local chapters for I.O. in different parts of the country, and it’s really good. Once you get to, especially the PSYOP conference, you can make connections with people from all over the nation, but there are local chapters that can allow you to make connections for internships and employment, and remember, you have access to a network of 500-plus peers. Not everyone’s in the TMV area. They’re from all over the states. And so, get connected, get to know cohorts across. The, you know, senior cohorts. We have now 20 cohorts in the program, so in the spring, we’ll be welcoming cohort number 21. That’s a lot of students to get connected to. Let me see… any… thanks, Chelsea, for putting that in the chat. All right, are there any other burning questions for Dr. Stagel and I?

Kevin Stagl: That’s great, everyone’s very, very curious. If you come up with questions after we’re done this evening, and you want to know, email us, and we, email RisePoint, email us, and we will definitely follow up, if we haven’t answered anything this evening.

Afra Ahmad: Dr. Sagal, do you want to speak a minute about PhD prospects? I think that’s a great response, but just tell them a little bit about that.

Kevin Stagl: Yeah, I’m not… Dr. Johnson, not yet. Almost. Major Johnson’s gonna talk to you about that very soon. He is, like, moments from getting a PhD. They might hand it to him tonight. And… and so, he is on the way to, being one of your instructors, maybe here at Mason. And so, I will just say that the program was originally designed to be an 18-month to 20-month Spin up to, to a practitioner-scientist, career. And along the way, we have found that with additional investment and planning, and I meant… I mean substantial investment and planning, Major Johnson was involved heavily in his own research the entire time. And reading the entire time, and was doing that before he came to graduate school, and during graduate school, and is still doing it today. If you’re one of those people, and you can’t get enough of this, and you have to make a difference, and you have to contribute to the science, there is a path for you. Seven of your peers have done this, and you can do it too.

Afra Ahmad: Absolutely. All right, with that, Peyton, can I turn it over to you?

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah.

Afra Ahmad: So, for this part of the programming, we are actually… Dr. Stagel and I are going to step out and leave you with these three fantastic alumni who are going to share more about their journeys And their careers, and you guys can ask any, you know, candid questions, to them, but again, you have folks that are in the U.S. government, an HR manager, a PhD candidate, so they volunteered their time to speak to you all tonight about their experience in the MPS program, and how it sort of led them to be where they are today. And so again, Justin, Jacob, Amber, thank you all so much for joining. We really appreciate you speaking to the applicants tonight, and any other last-minute questions before… We let you all converse with them.

Kevin Stagl: See you in the spring, everyone.

Afra Ahmad: All right, take care. Peyton, do you want to pull up your slides, or do you want me to leave this up, and I can, Just exit, mute, and exit.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, you can, you can, just leave it. I have the questions pulled up.

Afra Ahmad: Awesome. Alright, have a good night, everyone. Take care.

Justin Scott: Hey, are we still being recorded?

George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, we are.

Justin Scott: Okay.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah. All right, everybody, so we have Justin Scott, Jacob Johnson, and Amber Myers here with us to answer a couple of questions. Let me… hold on, my questions got taken down, give me one second… okay. So, first question I have is, how has your degree in the I.O. program helped you advance your career or obtain a job opportunity?

Amber Myers: Before we dive into the questions, could we give, like, a little, like, just an introduction, just so they know, like, our background a little bit?

George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, so we have Justin Scott. He was a part of Cohort, 15, now working as a management analyst for the U.S. Government, Accountability Office. We have Jacob Johnson, part of Cohort 6. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Connecticut, staff officer and training… or, excuse me, for Training and Education Command. And then we have Amber Myers, a part of Cohort 15, who is now a HR manager at… HR manager, excuse me, at CGI Federal. And would you like me to repeat the question?

Amber Myers: Sure, yeah.

George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, so first question is, how has your degree in the I.O. program helped you advance your career or obtain a job opportunity?

Amber Myers: Well, since I already went off mute already, I’ll go ahead and tackle this one. So I feel like this degree has been somewhat of a game changer for me. I was already working in HR when I started the program, but I wanted to switch from that, I was… operational, technical. you know, side of the role to, like, more specifically strategic, one that really influences how we think about the people within the organization, and their performance, and also the well-being of our people within the organization. And so, I feel like being in this program and obtaining this degree, it just helped me, or gave me the tools and the language to back up my work with data and theory, which changed how I showed up in conversations with, with my leadership and… with my leadership that I support. And so, since graduating, I’ve been promoted, I’ve been invited to, partner at national conferences, I have been invited to speak at different workshops, and… you know, asked to shape, you know, certain parts of my company in regards to, like, well-being and leadership strategies, so I feel like it’s given me a level of credibility within my organization, and confidence that’s been able to open doors for me, not only within my company, but also external to it as well.

George Mason Online Admissions: It’s awesome. And then, so next question. In what specific ways has the training and the program been useful to the work you do in your role?

Justin Scott: So, I’ll start. So, I’m gonna talk a little bit about question one, and it’s gonna.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah.

Justin Scott: lead into question two. So, with the I.O. program, I actually got a new job. I… I… do program evaluations now, so prior to that, I’ve been an HR practitioner for a while, and with the skills I learned in the program, specifically the stat skills and the research method skills, I was able to transition to a a role in another social science area, which is program evaluation, so that’s been really helpful, because even though my current job is not I.O. specific. I know enough about research, I know enough about the literature, I know enough about statistics to be able to look at studies, to be able to talk to stakeholders and talk to leadership about, different… different things, and also, like, understand studies. So, as you go through your program, you’re gonna… when you get to your stats class, you’ll learn about, like, statistical significance, and about, like, the… the, the power… I forget what this is another part of it, but, like, the power for, like, a sample size, and, that’s been really, really helpful to me.

Jacob Johnson: Sorry, can you repeat the questions? Because I’m getting distracted over here.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, would you like me to repeat both of them?

Jacob Johnson: Yeah, please, sorry.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, so the first question was, how has your degree in the I.O. program helped you advance your career or obtain a job opportunity?

Jacob Johnson: Yeah, so, obviously I was a little bit of a… of a different, I sort of knew that I had a different goal, or maybe a minority goal in mind, with going into academia from the start. So, based on my Marine Corps experience over the years. I was really interested in context and leadership, and so, really, this was a way for me, after 12 years, I guess I was… it was 10 years and change on active duty at the point that I started the program. you know, I knew this was my way to sort of knock the rust off academically and get some exposure to the field that I wanted to be in, which… worked out great for a number of reasons, which we’ll get into, I suppose, a little bit more in a minute here, but, well, actually, I’ll just talk about it now, because they’re one and the same. So, one of the questions posted was about research opportunities, and there’s tons of them, but it requires initiative on your part, right? So, everybody’s busy, and so, you know. Nobody’s gonna, like, seek you out among the faculty and be like, hey, why don’t you do some research with me on the side? But if you go to them and say, hey, I want some more research opportunities, whether that’s just for exposure. you think it’ll be useful in a… in a job, or you, like, see that as a potential career opportunity, to go into academia, there… there are a number of faculty that, that are… they’re always looking for students like that. And… and so for my case, it was Steve’s… I was interested in leadership, right? So I went to Steve Zagaro. And said, hey, you know, I only have so much time, but I’m really… I want to be an academic, and getting some exposure to… not that what you do in class isn’t real research. Is there are real skills that you develop, but, you know, I wanted to see what it’s really like behind the hood, right? Or under the hood, rather. And he was like, yeah, come on, you’re gonna… it’s not sexy stuff, but, you know, you’re gonna do some literature reviews and, you know, help out, in various ways. with some of his PhD students, and I did, and it was super valuable, and I, you know, put forth some good effort, even though I didn’t… still didn’t know much. And it… that’s honestly the biggest reason why I’m here, because Steve has worked with my advisor in the past, and so when I was actually applying to PhD programs. Steve reached out to me, my current advisor, and said, hey, this guy’s, you know. he hustled for me in the lab, and pretty good student, so you should consider him. And, you know, here I am. So, it is… this program was instrumental in a lot of ways, you know, the actual content that you learn, but then also… I think the most special part about it is, you know, and Dr. Stagel alluded to this, there’s a whole bunch of, like, I mean, these are, like, really accomplished academics. Who are still in touch with the real world as well, and they are willing… they’re teaching your classes, and they’re willing to help you out, you know, if you want to go above and beyond. So… I think I had something else to say, but it eludes me now, so I’ll stop.

Justin Scott: Yeah, and I also want to add to the research part, too, because I think Stephanie asked about research opportunities. So, like… like Jacob said. I think a lot of that goes back to your own initiative, so I work in a lab now, even as an alum, I work at a lab, I work with Dr. Rupp, so she does the, like, staffing, employee selection stuff, which is something I have a lot of interest in, and what I was doing in my job as an HR practitioner, and I just reached out to her and said, hey, I’m interested in research, I have no interest in doing a PhD right now, so… But I do want to actually, you know, work on my stats skills, be involved with, like, things that are on the forefront of changes in the field. So, she was like, yeah, sure. And I’ve been working with her, I think that’s been a real good experience. I’m working with her now on a couple projects, and I think it’s been helpful. I know Dr. I forgot what his last name. Rashid. He posts a lot of stuff in the, the, email list, but I think, you know, if you… if you see a professor that has a particular subject you’re interested in, it doesn’t hurt to reach out to them to say, hey, I’m interested in AI or whatever, performance management, and see if they have some… some opportunities for you.

Jacob Johnson: And just, like, a note from, like, the academia side, it probably doesn’t… most of you here, it probably doesn’t mean so much to be like, oh, these people are, like, you know, well-known professors, like, yada, okay. I’m telling you, as I live in it every day, and I read all these papers, and these journals that they publish in, and the quality of the journal, you know, matters to us nerds. And I see these names with frequency, right? And it depends on what topic you’re interested in, but these are, like, you know, you are truly learning from, as far as, you know, the academic side of things, like, these are true experts in the field, and they are teaching, you know, your classes, and it’s a… in that sense, again, one of the really special opportunities about Mason.

George Mason Online Admissions: Awesome. And Jacob, did you want me to repeat that second question for you?

Jacob Johnson: Sure, I’ve been talking too much anyway.

George Mason Online Admissions: Well, just in case. In what specific ways has the training and the program been useful to the work you do in your role?

Jacob Johnson: Yeah, I think I answered some of that. The only other thing I had to add, though, is that, you know, the stats classes, like, they… especially… I mean, for most people, there’s the rare exception, I’m sure, who has some experience, you know, did some advanced stats in undergrad or whatever, and still remembers some of it.

Jacob Johnson: But, like, I… that wasn’t me, I was a history major, and… and so I, like, learned R in the process of, you know, going through, which is a stats program, an extremely capable one. In fact, I still use it for most of my work, my academic work now, so… But, you know, it’s hard. It sucks going through it as you’re learning… you’re learning stats, but you’re also learning a new software, which… for, you know, less technically inclined people, I mean, it’s a lot. Those are… that’s a tough eight weeks, but then you come out of it, and, you know, I walked into a PhD program, I was like, oh yeah, at least I have some baseline knowledge of, you know, how to do some of this stuff. And so that was… that was really helpful to getting me off on the right foot. For the next step, and I’m sure, you know, Justin and Amber can speak to this more, but it’s things you can apply in the real world, too.

Amber Myers: Yeah, I, I can build off of that. My experience was a bit different when it came to statistics. I… I got my undergrad at Mason, and I was, my undergrad was in marketing, but I veered far away from marketing. But in that course, I did have to take some stats classes and whatnot. But… you know, I got my undergrad in, like, 2015, and so it was, like, a pretty large gap, you know, when I went into this grad program, so I completely forgot stats. And so, going into it is pretty, intimidating for me, but… I was very surprised. I really liked it. It was probably one of my favorite courses, and I actually found it fairly… it’s structured very well, where I felt like it… I could, easily get, you know, assistance, and help from the professors. There were a lot of resources, there were YouTube videos I could, like, you know, review. But I thought it kind of fun. I like that stuff. I like the coding aspect of it. I feel like it’s like putting a puzzle together. So, for those that feel intimidated by that, I feel like you get a lot of support as you go through that course, and it’s… they’re skills that you can carry, you know. into your work. I think I saw someone in the chat mentioning something about being an HR business partner, and wondering if, like, what we do in this coursework, can apply to, like, people analytics, and I definitely say yes to that, because there’s a lot of, data analytics and analyzing that we’re doing in our courses here, so most definitely.

Justin Scott: Yeah, and I have a comment about the people analytics. I forgot who made that comment about that, but I think if you’re looking at people analytics, you have to be very specific and look at the job, because some people analytics jobs, and jobs that I’ve had in people analytics before, it’s not really stats-heavy in the sense of what we learn. Like, you’re not really doing, like, regression models, you’re not looking at, like, models to predict, like, future things. Some… jobs, they may want, like, ratios, like, you know, how many people left this year, or they may want more visualization experience, so you just have to be… If you’re applying to a job, or if you’re looking at Trying to transition to that field, just be very clear about what angle you’re looking at it from, because all of them may not require, like, a real, real heavy stats as far as what we’re learning. And, like, in the… and I’m generalizing, but, like, in the government, like, when they typically talk about, like, human resource information systems or people analytics, they’re usually talking about Like, more like ratios, and then also building visualizations and dashboards. You know, if you want to do, like, heavy stat stuff, you may need to go into, like, more I.O. specific roles, or more. research-heavy roles, or maybe, like, something like people science, people… yeah, people science, like, I think Capital One uses that term. So, just something to be aware of.

George Mason Online Admissions: Awesome. Next question is, what has been the most memorable experience in the program?

Justin Scott: Mmm… there were a couple. So, I think the practicum research method experience, that was one of the most memorable for me, because I think, like, I had a really, really good team, and when you get to the practicum, you get… you’re pretty much running your own research project, and I liked it because we… I think we have 4 people. Most teams have 3, but we have 4 people. And, you know, we made it work, like, 3 people… two people were based in the DMV, one was based in… the West Coast. Another person was in Dubai, and we, you know, we figured out a way to make it work, and, you know, we all handled it like professionals, and, also the fact that we, we’re able to… focus on things that we actually had interest in, I think that made it… made it really fulfilling for me. So, you know, one person picked a topic, I handled most of the data analytics, somebody else did a lot of the writing and the background information, so I think that’s a good opportunity for You to focus on whatever your particular interests are when you get to that part of the program.

Jacob Johnson: I don’t have a specific one per se, but, it was really the research experience, right? So, for me, you know, you learned a lot, but the things that I really took out of it, and again, this is… because this is sort of what I had in mind. just coming into the program, but the ex… the fact that I got to work, like, as somebody who’s interested in leadership, who was… got to work and learned a little bit from Steve Zakaro was, like, you know, it was the coolest thing. And, you know, you… you learn… a lot of the stuff is, like, practical, you know, for… for… it was… practical for me in terms of… or instrumental, rather, for me to get to where I wanted to go, but it was also just, you know, super interesting to, you know, get to see behind the curtain.

Amber Myers: I think for me, when it comes to, like, the most memorable one, I think, is, like, the relationships that I built, with, you know, some of the professors in the program, specifically Dr. Kirkendall, so, she’s, like, over the motivation and well-being, course within this grad program. And that’s a specific area that I’m interested in, employee well-being, organizational well-being, within my organization. So being able to build that relationship with her and, you know, possibly be able to partner with her in the future. I think also a memorable experience. Earlier in this presentation, they were mentioning how, You know, students within the program have the opportunity to get, you know, scholarships or grants to go to, like, conferences or travel. And I applied for one of those grants, and I was able to go to the PSYOP conference last year, you know, that was fully covered by Mason, which was a very memorable experience. I got to meet some folks, you know, within the, within my cohort, so that was very exciting, and then also just being able to experience the PSYOP conference was, was really exciting as well, so I feel like that was a pretty memorable experience, and then I also… just realizing that I could combine my professional and my personal passions in one space, and what I mean by that is, like, yes, I’m an HR manager, and I’m very focused on employee well-being, but I’m also a registered yoga teacher. And, you know, during the practicum, my practicum was focused on, employee well-being and, and ethics, and then taking the motivation course, and doing certain research work, I was able to explore how yoga ethics can inform leadership behaviors, and I, you know, created my own professional framework out of that. So just using what I learned in this program to kind of build on that. and allow it to grow internally within my organization, but also externally. So I feel like that was something very unique and personal to me that I was able to do, within this program. Awesome.

George Mason Online Admissions: And then the last final question is, is there anything you would like to have known as a prospective student, or add about your experience as a student?

Amber Myers: I can… start, kind of building off of, like, what I said on the latter end of my response. I feel like don’t be afraid to let your unique perspective or journey, like, or… no, don’t… how do I word this? Don’t be afraid to let your unique perspective guide your journey. So I feel like everybody comes into this program from different professional backgrounds, or different, you know, end goals. You know, like Jacob, how you mentioned, you know, his end goal is a PhD, you know, whereas some people, you know, want to be a practitioner in this space. And I feel like it’s that diversity that, makes this program so rich, and I think it makes it valuable. And so, for me, it wasn’t… that this degree was just, like, a credential for me. It was about shaping my voice as a practitioner and, connecting the dots between the research, like the science, and the real-world impact to make myself seem more credible in the work that I do. I also want to highlight that anyone, which I feel like most people will probably be doing, anyone balancing work and school, it’s doable. It’s difficult, but it is doable. And I did take about, like, a year and a half break, so I was, like, in the program for, like, a year, then I took, like, a year and a half break, and I came back to finish the rest of my course. But, while difficult, my journey has been so worth it, and I find it… it was very unique, and, It’s helped me a lot, you know, on my journey and my career.

Jacob Johnson: I don’t know if I have a specific thing, But just to sort of echo or build on something Amber said at the end there about, you know, the challenges and… but it being worth it, I mean, you know, I had a… I had a… kid. going into it, it was, like, one, and then I had my second one, like, 6 months into the program, so I was like… I don’t recommend that, first of all, but… but, you know, it’s chaos, but, you know, the… you… if you dedicate the time and effort to it, and… you get so much back from the faculty, and the whole, you know, all the staff of the program as well. And so, you know, I know a couple people who took breaks. One of my practicum teammate took a break for 6 months, and then got back into it, and finished, and, you know, went on to get a I forget exactly what she’s doing, but an IO-related job, you know, is, you know, moving up in the world, right? So, it’s, Yeah.

George Mason Online Admissions: Justin, did you want to add, or…

Justin Scott: Yeah.

George Mason Online Admissions: Sorry, your hand up.

Justin Scott: For me, I think… Oh, what would I say? Knowing what to focus on, and how much energy and time to put into what? Because it’s easy to go down rabbit holes, but sometimes you can go down rabbit holes doing your research, and it’s like, this isn’t even relevant. I think one of the greatest skills to learn early on is how to… digest a journal article. If you do that, that will make your life a whole lot easier. And especially early on in the program, like, you may start reading journal articles, and you may want to get into the… like, the results section, or even the methods section, but you… more than likely, you won’t have the technical skill set to really grasp that. I think Learn how to digest the abstract. and just realize, okay, that’s really what you need to know for the time being, and being comfortable with knowing you’re not a technical expert, and realizing, hey, you’re going to learn these skills as you go along through the program. I think just grasping that, that’ll… that would have made my job a lot… my process a lot easier, my learning process a lot easier, and… and that’s something I try to tell people when they… join the program, just… just… Don’t go down a rabbit hole trying to read your own articles initially.

George Mason Online Admissions: Phone. Well, that’s all the questions we have. I did drop my email in the chat, so if anyone did want to get started on an application or had any specific application questions, admissions questions, please feel free to email me. Happy to answer any questions, that you might have. But that looks like it’s it. I think Dr. Ahmad is still on, I’m not sure. If she wanted to…

Jacob Johnson: Can I… while you’re… while you’re figuring that out, can I just make a… I took a couple notes of some of the previous questions that were not directly… related to these last ones, but I just want to say a couple things. So, first of all, like, the AI questions are really good, and this is a little bit of, like, the academic perspective, but I think it applies, pretty well. So, like, AI generally, like, great tools, right? But it’s a tool, and it is… only helpful to the extent that you actually know what you’re talking about, right? So it can help you a lot, but if you don’t know, you know, what’s going on, you know, in the… in terms of content or methods, like, whatever it is, you know, under the hood, right, then it’s just gonna get you in trouble. So what it’s good for, like, one of the things is coding, right? Like, you can… but again, you need to be able to verify it. So I say, hey, I wrote up this code. like, it’s not working, help me figure out where I went astray, right? Great for that. And especially, be careful which large language model you use, but Claude in particular is pretty good. I know there’s other ones as well. Somebody mentioned grading too, right? And for those of you who are teaching or plan to teach, like, the, you know, the thing is, like, you gotta figure out a way to. Do… to do evaluations where they can’t use artificial intelligence. So, like, what I’m doing with my students, because I’m teaching this semester, is, like, having them do a simulated meeting for their final project. So, like, yeah, they might use AI to, like, create some of the products that inform the meeting, but, like, they have to stand up and talk to another human being and be able to explain themselves, and answer questions, right? So, some of those things, is good, too. And then the last thing AI is really good for is, like, is counterfactuals, right? Or, you know, saying, hey, I wrote this, this is what I’m thinking, tell me why that doesn’t make sense, or how someone would poke holes in it, right? Those kind of things are really good. And, but again, as long as you actually know what you’re talking about underneath it. There’s another question about, like, is, and I know Dr. Stagel largely answered this, but it’s talking about, you know, is there a certain industry kind of orientation to the program? And I would say no. I, you know, and obviously, he’s more of an expert on this, but, you know, if you know what you’re talking about, you understand the fundamentals, I think, you know, I don’t remember if it was Justin or Amber who was talking about this before, but they basically made that same point, right? If you… if you get the fundamentals, then you can apply it. It’s pretty much industry agnostic. And the last thing was just, and we’ve talked about this before, but, like, the key thing that separates Mason is the people, right? And particularly the faculty, who, as we’ve talked about, are, like, just outstanding researchers, and they will take Much of their time and devote it to you if you’re willing to show them that you’re going to give it back, and that’s what really sets this place apart.

Justin Scott: Yeah, and I definitely agree with Jacob on that, and I… I think that’s another part… another… the faculty… quality of the faculty and their willingness to help us through our journey is… has made the program for me really, really, really, really good. And I actually applied to another MPS program. got denied by that program, then found out about Mason, like, 3 hours after I got denied, and got accepted by Mason, and I’m actually happy that I got accepted by Mason. Like, I like the way they have the program structured, because even though they condense a 16-week course into 8 weeks, at least you’re only focusing on one topic. And you can just sit there, focus on that one topic, do your assignments. They structure it really well, where it’s like, pretty much you start the week out, do reading. do a discussion post in the middle of the week, have a deliverable at the end of the week. So it’s pretty…

Amber Myers: kind of learned the flow for how it works, but I definitely think the faculty is what.

Justin Scott: Really cause the program… causes the program to shine.

Amber Myers: I see a question in the chat saying, like, who would you say the NPS program is not good for? I think it’s dependent on your end goal. It’s hard for me to really answer that. Is this really dependent on what your end goal is, the amount of time you’re able to dedicate, you know, to the program, because I feel like with this being online, you’re not having to physically show up in a, you know, in a classroom, you have to be very… you know, organized and, motivated, you know, to… to do the work. And it’s pretty rigorous, you know, each course is, like, 8 weeks, so it’s a lot shorter than, like, you know, the normal course, but you are also doing one course at a time, like Justin just mentioned. So you have that, you know, just that focal course. So… I know I’m not, like, explicitly answering your question, but I think it’s really subjective. Like, it just really depends on your end goal here, and what your motivations are.

Justin Scott: Yeah, I… and I think two things come to mind. If your goal is to pursue a PhD, because this is designed to be a terminal program, so, you know, you gain skills and you can. go down the PhD track, but this is not really designed to lead you to be a… be a… go on a doctorate track. Also, I think if you’re somebody who… is not comfortable doing research, and then giving evidence-based recommendations, because that’s what the program’s training is for, is to be practitioners and give organizations, or whoever we work for. evidence-based suggestions. If you’re just gonna be like, oh, I walked out today, and I feel like employees should do this because this is the new trending thing. That’s not really what we’re here for. We’re here to develop evidence-based recommendations, do the research, and… lead employers or organizations down the right path based off evidence. You know, if you’re just trying to follow what’s trending in industry, or what you saw on TV today, or what you know, what somebody on a podcast said, this is not… I don’t think this is going to be a good program for you, because it really makes you think about evidence theory. Research, and using that to come up with, with, recommendations and solutions.

Jacob Johnson: If you’re lazy. No, I’m kidding, I joke. I think the only thing I’d add to that is great points for both of you, is that just be honest with yourself in terms of how much time and bandwidth you actually have. Because if you’re working full-time, and say you have kids, and you’re taking care of a, you know, a parent who’s not well, right, like. you’re gonna… it’s gonna be, you know, hard to, like, really devote the time to get out of it what you can, right? So, I think that’s really the only thing, because, you know, there’s so many different roles in the I.O. world, and some of them you can be, you know, in the back office and not talking to people very much, just, you know, doing analyses and… doing background work. Some of them you could be, you know, if you’re an extrovert, you could be, you know. you know, schmoozing it with the CEOs and making recommendations all the time, right? So there’s… there’s just such a spectrum of opportunities that, you know, it’s one of the things that makes the field cool. But yeah, there’s really… other than, like, if you just really don’t have time, or you don’t want to work, then, yeah, that’s the only things that I could say would really make it not a good match.

Justin Scott: Yeah, and also, if… well, I came from an HR background, recognizing that once you’re going through the IR track, you’re becoming a social scientist, and so you’re… just like economists, just like anthropologists, just like… what else are social scientists? Social scientists, or political scientists, you know, you’re using science to study human behaviors, and in our case, we’re studying human behaviors in the workplace, so… the way you think about the world is going to be different than, like, someone who pursues an MBA, or someone who’s doing something that’s not a social science-focused arena. So, if you’re… If you’re going to not be comfortable, like, changing the way your perspective is on the world, or, like, how you communicate and how you view the world, I would say this program might not be the right one for you, too. If you’re, like, focused on, hey, I just want to do an MBA track, that’s two totally different things. I mean, I think you can use those… the skills we learn can help you in the business world to consult, but it’s… Looking at the world two different… in two different ways.

George Mason Online Admissions: Awesome. Any final words from our guest speakers? Before we wrap up?

Jacob Johnson: Thanks for, thanks for having us, thanks for being here. You know, we’ve beat this horse to death by now, but it’s a great investment in your future, so, strongly, if you’re thinking about it, like, you really can’t get a better place than Mason for an NPS program.

Amber Myers: I stuck on what Jacob said.

George Mason Online Admissions: Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much, and thank everybody for attending, and again, if you have any admissions questions, want to get started on an application, all my information is in the chat.

Justin Scott: Hey, somebody had a question about literary suggestions.

Jacob Johnson: Yeah, I was about to jump on that one, too. I’m really interested in what, Samantha, what you actually mean by that.

Justin Scott: Can you elaborate on that one?

Samantha Pringle: Sorry, I also think I spelled that incorrectly, too. Sorry, I was trying to, like, for… I was trying to, like, type it in real quick before the session ended. But I guess just, well, I’m, like, real introductory to… IO Psych in general, so I’ve just been trying to find, reading materials that kind of gives me a better idea of, I, I guess what, what the foundations, what they encompass, and yeah, kind of… I guess reading materials that are kind of, like, if you like IOS, like, you’ll definitely like this type thing, I guess. I would say check out PSYOT at S-I-O-P dot org, I think that’s the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology. They’re the premier organization for for IELT psychology stuff in the U.S. and maybe the world? But I know at least in the U.S. them, and I think if you’re gonna research stuff, I would try to find… Depending on how… experience you are with, like, reading journal articles and research. Try to find something that’s geared towards, like, the layperson, because you can go down rabbit holes with journal articles, but if you don’t understand, like, research methods, and if you don’t understand statistical methods, it may just cause… it may just confuse you. So, I think PSYOP does a good job of Having, like, some layperson Stuff, just to get you exposed to, what I think you’re… you’re trying to get at, which is, like, introductory stuff, just to see if this is something that may resonate with you. Is that right?

Samantha Pringle: Yeah, yeah.

Amber Myers: I agree.

Samantha Pringle: Thank you.

Justin Scott: Yeah, I would say check out PSYOP.

Jacob Johnson: Yeah, I have an article in mind about something, I think in industrial organizational psychology that talks about, like, the scientist-practitioner model, and But I can’t… I can’t remember the specific article, so that’s why I’m looking off-screen, looking at my other screen, seeing if I can find it. I can’t find it right now, but, some of those journals, like Industrial Organizational Psychology, or Psychologist, I forget what it’s called, are sort of an in-between. I mean, they publish some, like, real academic work, too, but they do some, some work that’s a little more, like, sort of… oriented towards practitioners in the field, right? So it’s, it’s, a little more accessible, so you might want to check out some articles like that, as well. In fact, this one that I was just trying to download was from Deborah Rupp, so… she’s first author on this, so… Anyway, yeah, sorry, I had something in mind, but it’s a good question, and I’ll keep looking and see if I can find something for you.

Samantha Pringle: Okay, thank you so much.

Justin Scott: Yeah, and… also, like, they’ll say I.O. Psychology is a scientist practitioner field. So, what that’s getting at is you’re not just looking at science in an academic institution. Like, you’re actually looking at how to apply this in the real world, and that’s what separates IO Psychology from some other scientific fields. So… And for this… for the MPS program, it’s designed for you to be a… scientist, but also a practitioner in the real world. Whereas, like, you know, if you’re pursuing a PhD program, it may… and I’m generalizing, it may just be… be focused on you working in academia, so… reading stuff on how you actually can apply our psychology in the… in what they call applied settings, or… you know, in the workplace, that may be helpful, too. And… also helping you decide whether or not you want to go the MA route, which Mason has, which is more geared towards research, or pursue this, which is more geared towards you actually working in the Working in an applied setting, or in the workplace.

Amber Myers: I also… I wanted to just add in, Niles, mentioned, like, the first textbook. I saved all the textbooks, so I feel like they are helpful, but yes, Psychology Applied to Work, I think, was, like, the first textbook that we used, so this is introductory, so if you want to purchased the… I think I got a used one from, like, Amazon. That was fairly cheaper than, you know, the norm or going to the bookstore. Sorry, Mason Bookstore. But, But if you want to go down that route, I recommend, you know, getting that book as well, because that’s helpful.

Justin Scott: And I put something in the chat on sign… like, the scientist partitioner model. I… this is just some random article I found, like. after 5 seconds of Googling, so, you know, do your own… validate it yourself to see if it’s relevant. But, this kind of gets into some details about A little bit better explanation of what the scientist-practitioner model is, especially for master’s students.

George Mason Online Admissions: Awesome. I think we got through all the questions. I don’t see anything that we haven’t answered. Perfect. So… Thanks, everybody, for attending. Thank you again to Justin, Jacob, and Amber. We appreciate it. So, you all have a great night!

Amber Myers: Thank you, you too.

Jacob Johnson: Thanks, nice to meet you guys.

Stephanie Rabelo: Thank you guys again, have a good night.