The University of Missouri Board of Curators unanimously voted today (Nov. 20) to approve a new Ph.D. program at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The new program in applied psychology will support S&T’s continued growth in education and research related to health care and related fields.

The program now must be approved by the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE). Pending this approval, the university aims to admit students into the new program starting in fall 2025.

“To support the new bio-innovation initiative on campus as well as compliment many of the other technology-focused aspects of S&T, we must be able to apply teaching and research activities in one of the most important areas of the social sciences,” says Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, vice provost and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education at S&T. “At Missouri S&T, we are solving global challenges through innovative research in these areas of research, including psychology’s role in manufacturing, AI and autonomous systems, and resource sustainability. With more companies, communities, government, military, and industry entities relying on psychologists to enhance their workplaces, the need for experts trained in the application of psychology will only grow.”

The applied psychology doctoral program will be housed in Missouri S&T’s psychological science department. The Ph.D. will have two tracks for students to pursue: applied social/industrial-organizational psychology and applied cognitive psychology. The department currently offers bachelor’s degrees in psychology and a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology, undergraduate certificates in cognition and neuroscience, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology, health care psychology and human factors. Students can also pursue secondary education certification with a psychology degree.

“We are excited to start offering a program in applied psychology – a program that isn’t offered at any other university in Missouri,” says Dr. Clair Reynolds Kueny, the department’s chair and graduate program director, and associate professor of psychological science at S&T. “This will be a huge boost for workforce development in the state.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 7% growth in employment for psychologists from 2023 to 2033, with an average of 13,000 openings per year. In particular, the careers associated with a Ph.D. in applied psychology all have “Bright Outlooks”, defined as career paths projected to grow faster than average nationwide, or more than 5% between 2022-2032, and/or projected to have over 100,000 job openings at the doctorate level nationwide between 2022-2032 according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The American Psychological Association states that the I-O psychology subfield is expected to see major growth. I-O psychologists help companies with human resources, hiring and employee engagement. 

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.