I have worked as a graduate student intern in MITRE’s Social and Behavioral Sciences department during summer 2022 and summer 2023, and I have also worked as a part-time intern in the interim (five hours per week). MITRE is a not-for-profit organization that works in the public interest across federal, state and local governments, by operating federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). FFRDCs are unique organizations that assist the United States government with scientific research and analysis; development and acquisition; and systems engineering and integration. MITRE is chartered to work in the public interest and does not compete with industry, but partners with industry and academia to solve critical government problems. This lack of commercial conflict of interest forms the basis for its objectivity. In its role as a trusted advisor, for example, MITRE can acquire sensitive and proprietary information from the government, industry, and other partners because they know MITRE will not use it for a competitive advantage.
My work at MITRE in the Social and Behavioral Sciences department has focused on measuring and reducing household food waste, which is a problem of gigantic scope in the United States with huge economic and environmental impacts. Food waste is a major contributor to climate change across the world, and just in America alone approximately 40% of edible food is wasted, which equates to about $400 billion.
Last year, my team at MITRE worked with food policy experts at Harvard University to evaluate the efficacy of various food waste reduction policies in U.S. states. Some of these policies focus on preventing food waste through clear date labels on food products (e.g., “Best by” is an indicator of food quality, but “Use by” is an indicator of food safety), and other policies focus on recovering food that would otherwise be wasted through food donation. But these policies are quite variable across U.S. states, and it is unclear whether they are effective. Thus, we sought to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of these policies by examining associations between policy strength and characteristics with food waste levels and donations over time.
This year, my team has pivoted from food waste policy evaluation to household food waste measurement. As you can probably imagine, there are many possible methods of measuring food waste, and none are perfect. There are cross-sectional and daily diary self-report methods (e.g., “Over the past week / Today, how much food did you waste?”), which are relatively inexpensive and easy to widely administer. However, these methods are potentially inaccurate due to social desirability and recall biases. There are also objective methods of weighing food items, which is precise but can be burdensome for participants. Therefore, my team is evaluating the extent to which each of these measurement methods demonstrates convergent validity. MITRE and Gallup are administering a nationally representative cross-sectional survey, utilizing a daily diary with self-report for each wasted food item, and pairing a scale with a mobile app to weigh each wasted food item. We are also examining the extent to which various food waste-related attitudes and behaviors predict household food waste.
As you might infer, my work at MITRE has been well outside of a traditional I-O content and problem area. I am an author on manuscripts that are under review at Waste Management and Maritime Studies; I have reviewed literature pertaining to food waste in high school cafeterias; I have helped to develop survey items to measure food waste and related constructs; and so forth.
But my training in I-O scientist-practitioner methods has been absolutely relevant and indispensable throughout my work. Our training in problem analysis and research question generation, literature review, survey construction, psychometric analysis, and validation are all content areas that can be flexibly applied to many possible problems, and we are well-versed in applying these skills and knowledge to real-world issues for real-world stakeholders. For example, the techniques of job analysis can be applied to problems of employee selection just as readily as to problems of food waste in cafeterias.
To summarize, I would encourage fellow I-O students to take their training as a scientist-practitioner and apply it widely, going beyond the imaginary walls of our I-O world and solving problems from a wide scope of societal, organizational, and personal concerns. Your skills and knowledge as an I-O scientist-practitioner are flexible and valuable, and you will be well-positioned to succeed across the many possible paths that your career may take you.
September 11, 2023