Blog post by Zachary Klinefelter
Blog edited by Rebecca Brossoit
July 2023
Q: How did you learn about the field of Occupational Health Psychology?
A: In my undergrad program at Northern Arizona University (NAU), I began working with Dr. Ann Huffman through the undergraduate research experience program. At the time, she had a grant from the Department of Defense to study stressors across unique family characteristics in the Army including dual-career and dual-military marriages. As part of this work, I was tasked with intensive literature review, data collection activities, and data management and analysis. While I did not know about the field of OHP for some time, it was during this project that I began to understand how psychologists, especially I-O psychologists, could study and help with work-family issues, work stress, and employee well-being. Working with Dr. Huffman was a great experience, and she encouraged me to explore the field of OHP as I progressed through my degree programs. I later received much more in-depth OHP training as part of my doctoral program.
Q: Please describe your educational background. Where did you earn your degree(s)? Did you receive OHP-specific training during graduate school?
A: I spent two years at a community college in Arizona studying paramedicine. Between poor performance in high school and my goals of working in firefighting, this was the ideal path for me at the time. After working wildfires for a few years, I ended up continuing my education at NAU for a BA in Spanish and a BA in Psychology. I then attended the MA program at NAU in Psychological Sciences working with Dr. Ann Huffman as my thesis advisor. The MA program there is set up well as a pre-doctoral steppingstone, so I was able to gain substantial quantitative and methodological training, as well as participate in conducting and disseminating research. From there, I completed a PhD in I-O psychology at Clemson University with Dr. Thomas Britt as my advisor. I also received a certificate in OHP that is offered in Clemson’s I-O Psychology program. I held a postdoctoral fellowship developing a fatigue risk management system in emergency medicine healthcare settings for one year, which I consider part of my education as well!
Q: Where do you currently work and what is your job title?
A: I am a Scientist in the Training, Learning, and Readiness Division at Aptima, inc. We are a human-centered engineering firm that brings expertise in generative AI, data science, software engineering, and several fields of psychology like I-O, neuroscience, and human factors. We leverage this expertise to conduct research and development (R&D) activities for government agencies throughout the defense, space, intelligence, transportation, and health sectors to improve performance at the individual, team, and organizational levels. My current roles include principal investigator for a project with the U.S. Air Force, and project manager for a project with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Q: What was the application process like for this job?
A: The process at Aptima was quite similar to applications for academic jobs. I filled out an application, submitted my CV and several writing samples, and then had 4 or 5 interviews (more like meetings) with different individuals at Aptima. These meetings were great to get to know the company better! I also gave a job talk on my dissertation and post-doc work that was open to the whole company. Because I was applying for a quantitative-heavy role, I also had to meet with a few of the data scientists at Aptima to discuss my skills and experience. The process was extensive and allowed me to be conscientious in my decision to accept the job offer.
Q: Please describe how you use OHP in your work. How does your role contribute to improving employees’ health, safety, and/or well-being?
A: Many of the projects I work on fall neatly within OHP. For example, one of my current primary projects is concerned with studying and preventing employee mental health crises using organizational and health record data. However, many of my projects have a much less clear connection to OHP. I work on many software engineering, data science, and AI projects. The big picture of it all, though, is to develop solutions to improve aspects of human performance or well-being. And with those more distal goals, OHP gets very involved and is helpful in many ways. Sometimes it’s using an OHP theory to explain behavior, or compiling examples of how certain OHP constructs are measured and analyzed to inform new work. There is no one recipe for how I use OHP, but I use it a lot!
Q: What does a “typical day” in your job look like?
A: One of my favorite parts of this job is that my activities vary widely from day-to-day, and I am afforded a great deal of autonomy in my work. Right now, the bulk of my efforts support two primary projects. In the first, I manage a project for DARPA wherein we are developing a virtual testbed, or environment where individuals can interact and complete virtual tasks, to run experiments on human-AI collaboration. The tasks we have programmed so far are related to search and rescue, explosive ordinance location and disposal, and others, but the testbed is flexible and can be customized to many task settings. The fully open-source testbed will allow us and future users to study individual and team performance, resilience, cohesion, trust, training, and other processes, all while learning about how humans and artificial social intelligence agents interact to complete tasks. My work on this project involves managing our internal team of software engineers and video game designers, as well as managing our collaboration with several hundred performers from government, industry, and academia. I also work with our evaluation core to design and execute measurement and evaluation standards for the tools we are developing. In my other primary project, I serve as principal investigator working with the Air Force to develop an algorithm, based in generative adversarial networks, for generating synthetic data to protect the privacy of personnel while allowing USAF leadership and partners to conduct research with their data. This work aims to enable the study and prevention of mental health crises including self-harm and suicide using organizational and health record data. Outside of those two projects, I am typically involved in one or two proposal efforts at any given time, which is how Aptima acquires contracts for future work. Additionally, I am often involved in internal committees and other efforts that work to improve policies and processes within Aptima.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
A: I cannot choose a single favorite! The innovation, autonomy, and the people are my three favorites. I love that nothing is off the table in terms of developing solutions to the complex challenges facing our military and other government customers. I am lucky to work with world-renowned experts in generative AI, theory of mind, I-O psychology, and other fields. Additionally, I get to serve as a unique member of a diverse team, where I can chart my own course to pursue my interests as they apply to our R&D activities. Finally, it is truly surprising how collaborative and supportive the culture is here. I have a team that I can approach with any issue without fear of judgement or reprisal, and I get to be a part of building that experience for others as well. The culture here is both challenging and collaborative, so that scientists and engineers can contribute to the work and their own development in the most effective way for themselves.
Q: Which skills are the most important to succeeding in your current role (e.g., communicating with clients, data analytics, etc.) and why?
A: Aptima needs both well-rounded and highly technical individuals. For my role, while I started out in a more technical setting where data analytics and visualization were key, skills such as leadership, project management, and customer engagement have become just as important. Still, I would say that the most important skills are related to deep and cutting-edge understanding of the constructs and processes that underlie human performance, well-being, and interactions with technology and other individuals, along with some creativity. This combination of knowledge and creativity is what allows us to understand the challenges facing today’s military/government and engineer innovative solutions to address them.
Q: What advice do you have for graduate students interested in OHP careers?
A: My advice is threefold. First, develop a deep understanding of the foundational theories of OHP but understand that their utility and importance stretches far beyond traditional OHP applications. I am so glad that I had professors like Bob Sinclair to hammer into my brain theories such as Conservation of Resources, Job Demands-Resources, etc. I am still learning to appreciate the wide-ranging applicability that those and other theories hold in describing human well-being, and going much further to facilitate performance, culture, and so much more. Second, think about the future and ensure you’re developing skills that will be relevant. With the increasing use of AI and other technology, some skills are becoming obsolete while new realms for research and development are emerging. Our workforce and society need OHP professionals that understand the impacts of these new technologies on working populations. Third, work hard to find a good advisor whose mentorship challenges and supports you in your work. A good fit is essential to succeeding in graduate school and beyond.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share?
A: I have a lot of people to thank for where I am today! My two main advisors throughout my education, Dr. Ann Huffman and Dr. Tom Britt, worked tirelessly to support me as I struggled through writing tasks and coursework. Their mentorship and guidance over the last decade have been invaluable. My two lab mates from Clemson, Dr. Chloe Wilson and Ms. Alexxa Bessey, who I look up to for examples of hard work, success, and compassion, helped me through every part of graduate school. I’m not sure where I would be in the process without their comradery and friendship. My current supervisor Dr. Jessica Shenberger-Trujillo is a strong and compassionate leader and is part of why Aptima is such a great place to work. Each of these individuals and so many more have had an outsized impact on my development and any achievements I can claim. I’m glad to know that I can continue working and interacting with them as I move forward in my career.
Dr. Zachary Klinefelter is a Scientist at Aptima, Inc. His research focuses on understanding stress, fatigue, burnout, stigma, and individual and team well-being, especially in high-stress occupations such as the military, healthcare, and emergency services. Dr. Klinefelter also has expertise in psychometrics and advanced quantitative methods. He has led multiple DOD-funded projects as principal investigator and project manager. Prior to Aptima, Dr. Klinefelter held a post-doctoral fellowship with a healthcare institution where he was charged with developing a fatigue risk management system for emergency healthcare providers. He has published papers in the areas of determinants of mental health treatment seeking in high-risk occupations, military psychology, organizational climate, and stress and fatigue at work. He has also co-authored two book chapters on different aspects of military psychology. Zach is continuing to find ways to implement OHP practices into his work and life. He is fortunate to have a supportive employer and supervisor that help facilitate boundaries and success in both work and non-work life!
Contact info:
Email: Zklinefelter@aptima.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-klinefelter-a338b6160