16th Annual RCIO Conference

IOHRM graduate students and faculty, along with undergraduate members of the HR Science Research Team and various research labs, attended the 16^th annual River Cities Industrial/Organizational Psychology Conference (RCIO) held virtually by the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. This year’s conference theme was “Building and Sustaining Psychologically and Physically Safe Work Environments.”

Dr. Timothy Ludwig delivered the keynote presentation, Dysfunctional Practices that Kill your Culture (and what to do about them). The attendees of the conference were impressed by all the energy, engagement, and applicable content Tim brought to the conference. Him discussing his book, What Are You, F&#%’N Stupid ?!?, also captivated everyone’s attention with his humorous anecdotes. Additionally, Dr. Shawn Bergman presented Misunderstanding and Misinformation: Safety risks and intervention strategies for two common workplace occurrences later in the day.

In addition, IOHRM students showcased multiple posters they had been working on as part of the HR Science Research Team. Specifically,

Second year IOHRM students Connor Linden and Royale Nicholson, faculty member Dr. Ludwig, and some undergraduate researchers presented their APP vs COVID poster.
Second year IOHRM student Catherine Meyer, faculty member Dr. Yalcin Acikgoz, and undergraduate researcher Jacob Leslie presented their Examining the Relationship between Applicant Reactions and Selection Test Performance: Is the Relationship Curvilinear? poster.
First year IOHRM students Jacob Ledford, Charles Riggs Matthews, Haley Henderson, Catherine Parks; second year IOHRM students Samuel Biggs and Royale Nicholson; and faculty members Dr. Shawn Bergman, Dr. Yalcin Acikgoz, and Dr. Timothy Ludwig presented their Generating a predictive model for injury rates for a chemical manufacturing company poster.
Second year IOHRM student Andrea Montoya; first year IOHRM students Jenna Hochstetler and Alexa Sterling; faculty member Dr. Shawn Bergman; and undergraduate researcher Mulan Lee presented their Linking Psychology Curriculum with Career Skills: The Faculty Perspective poster.
Second year IOHRM student John Lang; first year IOHRM student Donovan Mattox; faculty member Dr. Shawn Bergman; and undergraduate researcher Mulan Lee presented their Linking Psychology Curriculum with Career Skills: The Student Perspective poster.
Second year IOHRM student Nicolas Simard and faculty members Dr. Shawn Bergman, Dr. Jim Westerman, and Dr. Yalcin Acikgoz presented their Moving toward sustainability: An investigation into the relationship between ESG scores and organizational outcomes in HRM poster.
Faculty members Dr. Yalcin Acikgoz and Dr. Timothy Ludwig and undergraduate researchers Julie Brooks, Cori Ferguson, Nicholas Granowsky, and Ava Young presented their Validating a measurement culture survey for use in improving analytics readiness poster.

After the conference concluded, first year IOHRM student, Riggs Matthews shared, “I would say this project [Generating a predictive model for injury rates for a chemical manufacturing company] was a really great way for me to dive into my science team's literature. It is one thing to learn about a subject without much context, but this opportunity allowed me to do research with a more concrete objective, and get to know my team better. I definitely suggest it to any new members coming into HR Science!”

While not in person, those who attended from Appalachian State University, still had a magnificent time. A huge shoutout and thanks to the I/O Psychology program at UT Chattanooga for a great and successful conference!