Industrial and Organizational Psychology

The mission of the Master of Science (M.S.) program in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology at San Jose State is to provide students an intensive grounding in theory, research, and application in the field of I/O Psychology. As the purpose of I/O Psychology is to apply psychological theory, research, and methods to organizational settings, the M.S. I/O program at San Jose State has three primary goals for its students: 

  • Acquire knowledge and skills in I/O psychology, research methods, and data analysis
  • Apply knowledge and skills to organizational situations
  • Build and cultivate one's professional network

The I/O program strives to instill the values of the scientist-practitioner model: to have students understand and appreciate theory and research as they apply their knowledge and skills to meet the needs of organizations. As such, our ideal graduate is broadly educated and critically minded — a good thinker and problem solver who has the desire and ability to effectively apply theory and methods to real-world settings.

The I/O program is intended to prepare graduates for professional practice or academic study in areas such as: 

  • Work engagement and motivation
  • Workforce diversity and inclusion
  • Organizational development and change
  • Talent acquisition and management
  • Occupational health psychology
  • Data analytics and statistical analysis
  • Job satisfaction and productivity
  • Learning and development
  • Employee selection and retention

The location of San Jose State in the heart of Silicon Valley affords many opportunities for the practice of I/O psychology. Organizations in which recent graduates of the I/O program have developed internships and permanent full-time positions include LinkedIn, Adobe, Google, NVIDIA, Impossible Foods, Intuit, SAP, Waymo, Cisco Systems, Salesforce, HP, and Facebook. Typical positions appropriate for graduates of the program are in medium to large sized corporations (traditionally in the Human Resources function), large research organizations, and human resources or management consulting firms. By selecting relevant coursework and by completing research projects, students can target any of these career objectives, or pursue doctoral-level training in I/O psychology. 

Detailed information about the I/O program (including application materials) may be found by clicking on the links below. Inquiries about the program are welcome and may be directed to [email protected].

Program Information

Application Material