Professional Development: Careers in Psychology and Human Factors Outside Academia
Psychology and human factors research are applicable to a wide array of careers. In a recent webinar from APS and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, a panel discussed how those with academic backgrounds in psychology can use their expertise in a variety of other fields.
Judi See, a systems analyst at Sandia National Laboratories, moderated a panel of five professional researchers. The panel discussed how they pivoted their careers from academia to human factors work and other scientific fields, the benefits and barriers of moving to jobs outside of academia, and advice for students searching for jobs in human factors fields.
Change is a constant in any industry, and that presents one of the principal challenges, said Ron Boring, a distinguished scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in government or industry,” he said. “Things don’t stick around that long. Industries are driven by the pace of what technology is evolving, what consumer demands are.”
The speed of the industry landscape can also present a challenge, said Amrita Maguire, senior principal engineer in the Experience Design Group at Dell. “In a nutshell, working outside academia means speed. Believe me, when you’re delivering products … you have to turn around things in a very, very short time frame,” she said.
The panel also provided advice for students looking to pursue human factors as a career. Networking and communication skills were emphasized as important skills to set oneself up for success in the job market.
“You’re going to have people who look at what you’re doing, what you’re interested in,” said Christine Covas-Smith, director of the Enterprise Learning Engineering Center of Excellence at Air Education and Training Command. “They may just reach out to you and say, hey, this matches what I’m looking for as far as an intern or as an entry-level person.”
Covas-Smith advised students to take advantage of every possible opportunity they encounter, and especially to apply for scholarships.
Speakers
Amrita Sidhu Maguire
Dell TechnologiesAmrita Sidhu Maguire, AUXP, UXC, FHFES (Fellow Human Factors & Ergonomics Society), is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and UX Architect at Dell Technologies, where she leads user-centered design strategies for enterprise hardware interfaces. She holds the position of Distinguished Member Technical Staff in Dell’s Technical Leadership Community (TLC), an elite group representing about 1% of Dell engineers.
Christine M. Covas-Smith
Air Education and Training CommandChristine M. Covas-Smith is the Director of the Enterprise Learning Engineering Center of Excellence (ELE CoE), Air Education and Training Command (AETC), Joint Base San Antonio, Randolph AFB. Dr. Covas-Smith is leading the implementation of Learning Engineering as a sense-making framework for USAF Force Development including increasing competency-based learning through systematic application of evidence-based principles, scientific methods, and practices from the learning sciences, education research and systems thinking to modernize learning to produce effective outcome.
Christopher R. Reid
The Boeing CompanyDr. Christopher (Chris) Reid is a Senior Technical Fellow and Boeing Designated Expert in both the Human Factors & Ergonomics discipline and wearable technology. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Practice at Clemson University’s Department of Industrial Engineering.
Judi See-Moderator
Sandia National LaboratoriesDr. Judi See works at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a systems analyst and human factors engineer. She has a doctorate degree in Experimental Psychology (Human Factors), master’s degrees in Experimental Psychology (Human Factors) and Systems Engineering, and professional certification in human factors/ergonomics from the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics. Dr. See is a Fellow in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and a member of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
Ron Boring
Idaho National LaboratoryDr. Ron Boring is a distinguished scientist at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where he aligns human factors capabilities to nuclear engineering research needs. He has led control room development and human risk efforts for a variety of national and international partners, including U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NASA, and numerous industry partners. He was the founder of the Human Systems Simulation Laboratory and was the inaugural department manager for Human Factors and Reliability at INL.
Stephen Dorton
MITRE CorporationSteve Dorton is a principal scientist for sensemaking, decision making, and artificial intelligence at The MITRE Corporation.
