I have three interrelated academic identities. As a differential psychologist, I am interested in understanding and measuring how people differ from one another in cognitive (e.g., knowledge, skills, abilities) and non-cognitive (e.g., personality, motivation) attributes, and how such differences are manifested in various situations. As an industrial-organizational psychologist, I seek to apply various theories and methods of differential psychology to better understand the workplace dynamics, and to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. As a work psychologist, I am also interested in studying the psychology of working (i.e., the experience of work) from the workers' perspectives. In this talk, I will discuss how insights gained from these three perspectives in psychology may intersect with the scholarship of engineering education. In addition, time permitting, I will briefly present a few recent/working papers on the general topic of research methods and publication practices in social sciences.   

Bio | Dr. Sang Eun Woo is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. She received her PhD degree in industrial and organizational psychology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a minor in quantitative psychology. Her research focuses on how people's personality and motivation can help explain various psychological phenomena in the workplace, and how such explanations may be further informed by situational characteristics. Particular outcomes of interest include work attitudes (e.g., satisfaction and commitment), withdrawal behaviors (e.g., turnover), and interpersonal relationships (e.g., networking and social networks). Sang has over 15 years of experiences in conducting research and consulting in the area of psychological measurement in both public and private sectors. Her focal expertise lies in developing and validating techniques of assessing personality and individual differences for various organizational and educational purposes (e.g., selection, diagnosis, training/development, and retention), as well as in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings and implications of such techniques. She actively contributes to the international community of social sciences: She frequently publishes in journals within and across multiple disciplines, including industrial and organizational psychology, personality psychology, management (organizational behavior and human resources), organizational methods, sociology, education, careers and vocational psychology, aviation psychology, and engineering. She is currently serving on the editorial board for Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods, Human Resource Management Review, and Journal of Business and Psychology.