You Belong

Hello, I’m Dr. Kath!

My name is Lisa Kath, and I’m an associate professor of industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology at San Diego State University. In my previous life, I was an organic chemist. I made the switch to I-O psychology and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Research

Occupational Health Psychology

My students and I conduct research in industrial-organizational psychology. I’m super energized by identifying when something is out of balance at work and engaging in projects that help right the scale. In the U.S. context, that leads me to center my research in occupational health psychology, which focuses on issues related to the well-being of employees.

More specifically, we do research on these two topics:

Worker stress – Our culture is very “go, go go,” with little emphasis on “rest and recover,” so I study causes/effects of stress and what can be done to help workers.
Worker safety – Our culture promotes downplaying worker safety to focus more on fitting in socially and/or achieving productivity goals, so I study interpersonal influences on safety.

We have studied these topics in a number of industries, including nursing/healthcare, railway transportation, grocery stores, and electricians.

POWER Lab

Psychology of Organizational Wellness and Effectiveness Research

Our lab activities vary depending on whether there is an active data collection or not. We typically have 2-4 master’s-level graduate students, and 3-5 undergraduate students in the lab at any given time. During the academic year, we meet weekly to check in with one another on our projects and tasks. We try to have a social event every semester, but sometimes we only sneak one in once/year (pandemic, I’m looking at you).

Learn More

I-O Psychology

Information and resources on the greatest field ever

Some of you may not have heard of I-O psychology before, but some of you may be already planning to go to graduate school in I-O psychology. Either way, I have compiled some great resources for your educational journey.