Celia Freed had never heard of industrial-organizational psychology before she came to Missouri S&T.  Now, after two years of undergraduate research in the subject, she plans to one day earn a master’s degree in the field.

“I was always interested in psychology since high school classes, but didn’t know how in-depth academic subjects could get,” says Freed, a sophomore in psychology from St. Louis. “I never expected to get so involved when I went to college. High school me wouldn’t even recognize me now.”

Freed joined S&T’s First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) program and started working on data analysis as a first-year student. Partnering with Dr. Clair Kueny, chair and associate professor of psychological science at S&T, Freed worked to analyze faculty evaluations from their supervisors to look for biases in the review process. She even presented her research findings to dozens of faculty members at a leadership workshop for evaluation rubrics and best practices.

She enjoyed the research aspects of learning so much that she joined S&T’s Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) program to continue working in the psychology laboratories. Her new project, with Dr. Daniel Shank, associate professor of psychological science at S&T, will involve looking at algorithmic bias in corporate hiring processes, specifically AI-gender bias.

“I didn’t realize how much math was involved in psychology research; it is still a statistics-heavy area of research,” says Freed. “But I really enjoy working with the faculty and meeting my fellow psychology students. That was my favorite part of working at the department’s summer camp last year (Mining the Mind) — these are all brand new experiences for me and I got to see a positive impact from my work.”

Outside of research, Freed is personnel chair in Chi Omega, diversity and inclusion chair in the Panhellenic Council, and a member of Order of Omega leadership honor society.

“There are so many opportunities to get involved, even really early on at campus,” says Freed. “I highly recommend anyone interested in conducting research as an undergraduate student to contact your professors that you enjoy taking classes with and ask them about getting involved — there is opportunity everywhere.”

For more information about Missouri S&T’s psychological science program, please visit psych.mst.edu.