The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense (DOD), or the United States Government.
William “Wil” Jimenez, Ph.D. capitalized on opportunities through Old Dominion University’s Department of Psychology as a doctoral student. With research as the centerpiece of his evolvement in science, Jimenez worked hard in psychology so that he could have options when it came to his choices of a career. Because of his upbringing along with his curiosity, he thrived on the educational pathways he found at . Jimenez is working in the field of study that he has a passion for.
Most recently, Jimenez was hired as a Research Psychologist for the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) at Fort Belvoir. “For over 80 years, ARI and its predecessors have been conducting important research that supports the mission of the U.S. Army,” said Jimenez. “I’m looking forward to collaborating with my ARI colleagues and contractors on applied research projects as well as sharing parts of our work with the scientific community.”
Being able to ensure the personnel readiness of the current and future Army workforce isn’t an easy task, but because of his research experience and published works Jimenez is poised to make a difference through a specialized type of psychology and with guidance from his parents he is doing what he enjoys most.
Jimenez grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, but both of his parents are first-generation Americans who emigrated from the Philippines. “They both embody and emphasize lifelong hard work as a virtue,” said Jimenez. “Their stories made for really intriguing conversations at the dinner table—spanning topics such as teamwork, productivity, occupational stress, and motivation.” His mom is a registered nurse (RN), and his dad has primarily worked as an analyst in healthcare.
“Fascinated” by his parents’ careers and tenacity, Jimenez set out on a quest of his own. “In high school after taking AP Psychology and doing well on the exam, I knew I wanted to study psychology in college,” said Jimenez. He decided that he wanted “to see what life was like outside of the Chicagoland area,” so he applied to colleges all over the country. Jimenez eventually decided to attend the George Washington University (GW) in Washington, D.C.
As an undergraduate at GW, Jimenez had plans to go to medical school because many of his family members on his mother’s side worked in the healthcare field. “Freshman year I quickly realized that pre-med was not a good fit—especially not while majoring in psychology,” said Jimenez. After telling his parents that “pre-med was a no-go” he fully focused on psychology. “Instead, I ended up enrolling in a social psychology course, which I think set me on the path to industrial-organizational psychology.”
With influence from Jimenez’s dad, who recommended that he ‘look into industrial-organizational psychology’ (I-O) and the fact that he was generally intrigued by psychological research led him to volunteer in his social psychology professor’s lab. “I enjoyed being a research assistant collecting, inputting, and cleaning data,” said Jimenez
Interestingly, I-O was outside of the psychology department at GW, specifically in the Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication. “Junior year, I ended up taking an I-O psychology course taught by then Ph.D. student Dr. Nikki Blacksmith, volunteering as a research assistant on one of Nikki’s research studies, and declaring I-O as my concentration,” said Jimenez. “The mentorship of Nikki as well as other I-O Ph.D. students and faculty at GW motivated me to pursue I-O for graduate school; plus, I-O also ended up being a really good fit on a personal level.”
was highly recommended to him by GW faculty. During his interview, he was captivated by how collaborative the environment was at . “Multidisciplinarity was and still is important to me, so I was impressed to see faculty across the different psychology grad programs publishing and presenting with each other,” said Jimenez. “What sealed the deal though was a post-interview get-together hosted by the grad students at the time.” He was delighted when he saw I-O psychology, human factors, applied psychological sciences (now known as the health psychology program), and clinical psychology students all mingling together.
there is a variety of professional opportunities for students and alumni to choose from. “People have done consulting work for and have worked/interned at places like the federal government (NASA, DOD), local government (City of Norfolk, City of Virginia Beach), and the Fortune 500 (e.g., Google, IBM, Target, Nike),” said Jimenez. “ I-Os are trained not as practitioners but as scientist-پپDzԱ.”
Collaboration played out during his doctoral studies because he had “not one, not two, but three advisors.” His first advisor was Xiaoxiao Hu, Ph.D., who is now an Associate Professor of Management at West Virginia University’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics. “As Xiaoxiao’s student, I developed an interest in emotions and well-being in the workplace,” said Jimenez.
His second advisor was Xiaohong (Violet) Xu, Ph.D., who is now an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Alvarez College of Business. “Violet inspired me to develop expertise in meta-analysis,” said Jimenez.
His third and final advisor was Ian Katz, Ph.D., who is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at DePaul University. “Through Ian’s mentorship and dissertation chairing, I was able to take my meta-analysis and R coding skills to the next level,” said Jimenez.
Knowing that he could cross-collaborate and publish was important to Jimenez. “A total of 11 of my publications were coauthored with my advisors, and I’m grateful to be able to continue collaborating with them. RAD Lab, META LAB, and LEAF Lab forever,” said Jimenez. “Some say that employers outside of academia don’t care about your publication record; although this perspective may be true for many, my recent former employers, who were outside of academia, hired me because of my research output.”
Jimenez credits ’s I-O program to preparing him for his current position. “First and foremost, all of my advisors actively advocated for and collaborated with me; with their support, I was able to develop strong research and analytical competencies that translated to plenty of publications and conference presentations during grad school,” said Jimenez.
In his current role, Jimenez is “working in a research-centric organization, so suffice it to say that it’s been important for me to actively demonstrate my research skills.” “Secondly, during my time at , I contributed to applied projects on topics of particular interest to DOD psychologists: leadership training and reintegration of combat-wounded veterans and leader assessment in the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal community,” said Jimenez. “Special shoutout to Dr. Konstantin Cigularov for involving me in these engaging and meaningful applied experiences.”
Doors opened up for Jimenez in the federal government while at . Personnel Research Psychologists from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management gave a brown bag discussion, during which he was first introduced to how I-O psychology is implemented in the government. After that talk, he did two consecutive internships with the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer at NASA in summer 2019 and fall 2019, remotely and in-person. “It was during this amazing internship that I knew for certain that I wanted to become a civil servant I-O psychologist,” said Jimenez.
In his current role at ARI, Jimenez is part of the Predictive Analytics and Modeling Unit (PAMU) “which develops and implements advanced analytical approaches to innovatively address the Army’s talent management needs.” According to Jimenez, “The unit is currently applying artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions for developing job requirements and assessing individuals’ knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors—among other activities.” He’s taken part in several projects. “The first, led by Dr. Dave Glerum, involves using systematic review and bibliometric analysis to investigate how range restriction has been discussed and dealt with in different scientific disciplines,” said Jimenez. “The team aims to develop an integrative framework for addressing range restriction in the psychological sciences.” Another, led by Dr. Rachel Amey, is a “mixed-methods study on Soldiers in learning contexts.”
Looking back at his time at , Jimenez speaks highly of the program. “Regardless of your intentions to pursue a career in academia or applied settings, you’ll have to be willing to dedicate yourself to serious scientific research during your time at ,” said Jimenez.