Faculty

Dr. Monica Cushnie is a Lecturer and Assistant Chair of Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. As a doctoral candidate her research focused on the relationship between gender roles and dating violence and college students’ abilities to recognize warning signs of dating violence.

Dr. Kenneth P. Yusko is an expert in the design of personnel selection, development, and performance management systems and has helped Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and government agencies, as well as professional sports teams and leagues to be more effective. Ken’s current clients include the NFL, the Sacramento Kings, Merck, Morgan Stanley, Lutron, and the Motion Picture Association of America. His research focuses primarily on improving the diversity outcomes, as well as accuracy, of employment testing systems.

Dr. Nikita Arun is the Program Director and a faculty member in the IO MPS program. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from Virginia Tech. She is passionate about training students in the field of I/O psychology and developing opportunities for IO MPS students to grow their knowledge, skills, and experiences. She has a special interest in implementing a universal design for learning approach and is currently teaching Introduction to I/O Psychology and Organizational Change. Most recently, she co-authored a book chapter on teaching strategic workforce planning.

David spent nearly two decades in leadership and management roles, both as a serial entrepreneur and for a Fortune 500 company. Early in his career, David learned how critical good leadership and a healthy culture are for the growth and survival of an organization. David is passionate about work, leadership, and the changing role of HR within organizations.

Dr. Nathan Cheek (PhD, Princeton University) is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He studies how people make sense of their own and others' experiences and choices, with particular interest in biased beliefs that perpetuate and magnify inequality. Research in Dr. Cheek's lab has especially focused on people's beliefs about poverty and sexual harassment, and other recent work has investigated how people perceive their choices in relation to their identities and goals. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, Dr.

​Dr. Noah Triplett is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Prior to moving to the School of Public Health, Dr. Triplett was an Assistant Research Professor and member of the Global Mental Health and Addiction Program and CESAR--the Center for Substance Use, Addiction & Health Research in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS). 

Dr. Sebenick earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and M.Ed. in Community Counseling at the University of Maryland.  Licensed in Virginia, Dr.

Dr. Cassandra N. Phetmisy is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland in College Park. She received her PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Rice University. Her research is centered on the influence of critical contextual (non-work) stressors on employee effectiveness and wellbeing. A core question she answers through research is: “How does stress influence employees’ well-being, goal pursuit, and work experiences?” Dr.

Dr. Weizhen Xie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Brain and Behavior Institute. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Renmin University of China and pursued research training at the University of California, Davis, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He then completed his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, where he studied the neurocognitive mechanism of visual short-term memory precision. Following his Ph.D., Dr.