Welcome to our new faculty member, Phil Seok Lee!
Tell us a little bit about yourself
I am so happy to join the psychology department at George Mason University! I am originally from South Korea. I earned my Ph.D. degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of South Florida in 2016. I worked at South Dakota State University IO psychology program for the last two years. I am very happy to move to Fairfax with my family (wife and two kids).
Do you have any hobbies that you enjoy?
My hobby is playing tennis and traveling. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to enjoy them since my two babies were born. I look forward to getting back into tennis within the coming year(s).
Have you always been interested in studying psychology and what initially sparked your interest?
No, I actually double-majored in business and literature in college. However, I was very interested in quantitative modeling and psychometrics. This interest led me to the psychology area. I came to the US to study the quantitative psychology, but I switched my major to the industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology because I wanted to apply the psychometrics to the practical problems of I-O settings.
What will you be working on in the psychology department?
My research focuses on
- Developments and applications of modern psychometric modeling to the practical problems of I-O settings (e.g., Multidimensional Forced Choice IRT Model, Multilevel Model, Factor Mixture Model, Structural Equation Model)
- Faking issues in personnel selection
- Development of noncognitive personnel assessment
- Personality and individual differences
- Issues on technology-based assessment in selection settings (e.g., game-based assessment).
I look forward to continue working on these topics in my new home within the psychology department!
What is your favorite part about working at a university?
Coming up with new ideas and discussing them with students and colleagues!
What are your research goals?
My ultimate goal is to develop and apply modern psychometric techniques to the new multidimensional forced choice assessments and technology-based personnel assessments (e.g., game-based assessment or virtual reality-based assessment). Also, my research will keep investigating psychometric issues about faking responses of noncognitive assessments in personnel selection settings.
