LSU Psychology Assistant Professor Receives Prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award
July 19, 2022
Dr. Don Zhang, National Science Foundation CAREER Award Recipient
Photo Credit: LSU
BATON ROUGE – The National Science Foundation, or NSF, has awarded LSU Department of Psychology Assistant Professor Don Zhang its most prestigious grant for early-career faculty
who exhibit potential to serve as academic role models in research and education.
Zhang conducts research in the field of industrial and organizational psychology.
This highly competitive grant supports an individual’s research helping build a firm
foundation for a lifetime of research and academic leadership.
“We congratulate Dr. Zhang on this exceptional honor and his tremendous accomplishment,”
said LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences Dean Troy Blanchard. “This is a testament
to Dr. Zhang’s cutting-edge research and the impact he has already made in the field
of industrial and organizational psychology.”
Zhang’s NSF CAREER Award will further his research on how risk-takers at work impact
organizations. In the workplace, risk takers are typically thought of as reckless
and irresponsible. Multiple corporate catastrophes, such as the financial crisis of
2008 and Enron scandal, can be attributed – in part – to employees and leaders who
took excessive risks. However, risk taking is also essential for innovation, courage
and the fight against social injustice.
“For these reasons, risk takers at work can be a liability and asset and it’s critical
that we understand how to leverage employees’ appetite for risks toward virtue rather
than malice,” Zhang said.
Zhang’s goal is to provide organizations with a valid measure of workplace risk taking
to help their assessment and selection efforts. He aims to reach organizations with
high-risk occupations, such as the chemical and manufacturing industries, to understand
how to prevent safety incidences due to reckless risk taking.
With the support of this five-year $430,000 grant, Zhang will develop a workplace
situational judgment test to assess risk propensity relative to the population as
well as vocational guidance based on their level of risk tolerance. The instrument
he will develop will be available to researchers, industry professionals and the general
public.
Zhang is currently a co-principal investigator on the NSF-funded Louis Stokes Center
for Promotion of Academic Careers, or LS-PAC MODELS, at LSU. LS-PAC MODELS is a data-driven center of excellence dedicated to broadening participation in the
STEM professoriate through mentoring, networking and professional development.
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Contact Sarah Keller
LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences
sarahg@lsu.edu
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