The institution made a commitment to increasing its research productivity. Faculty who were much more research-oriented were hired throughout the ‘90s. The Health Sciences Center also put more emphasis on research. Faculty have been rewarded more for obtaining grants and for publishing research. Before Carnegie changed its classification system, the University set moving from Research II to Research I as a major goal. With the new classification system, Texas Tech is a Doctoral/Research Extensive institution, but the goals of increasing grant dollars and research productivity remain as major goals of the institution. The Psychology Department has hired very strong, research-oriented faculty during the past decade.

  Does this reflect a deliberate plan to enhance the institution's research effort in this field, or was this an unexpected or serendipitous development?

Yes, the Psychology Department has gradually changed all its doctoral programs to be more oriented towards research. Although the Experimental Psychology program has always emphasized research, the Clinical and Counseling programs have more recently changed their emphasis from the training of clinically-oriented students to more research-oriented students. The department's strategic plan emphasizes publishing in high-quality journals and seeking grant support for research.

  What factors or circumstances led your institution to its work?

The research conducted in the Psychology Department is varied. Much of it relates to the applied areas reflected in our graduate programs, clinical and counseling psychology, applied cognition, human factors, and social psychology. Research topics include eating disorders, trauma and abuse, the effectiveness of treatment, learning from web-based courses, and factors related to the perception of collisions. The main factors that lead to the specific work in the Psychology Department are faculty and students interests in a department that emphasizes the application of psychology.

  What is your prediction for the state of our knowledge about this particular field 10 years from now?

The field of psychology has made great advances in the last 10 years and will continue to advance. Moving our science from the laboratory to more real-world settings has made the application of psychology more likely. Our faculty are publishing research that can input into a number of societal problems, including the long-term effects of abuse, the efficiency of learning from web-based materials, and how to prevent accidents because people misperceive the time to collisions. At Texas Tech, I predict that our research will become more applied as our graduate programs have moved in that direction. Psychology in general is becoming more biologically based as techniques to study the brain and the biological basis of behavior are becoming more available. The Health Sciences Center has recently begun to emphasize the psychological study of Alzheimer's disease to accompany their study of the medical and physiological aspects of this disorder. A partnership between the Psychology Department and the Health Sciences Center could further our understanding of Alzheimer's. I would hope that we could learn more about Alzheimer's in the next 10 years.

  What research fields or capabilities do you see as critical for the future of your institution?

Institutions have been providing Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to researchers so that they can study the brain as psychological tasks are completed. Research at Texas Tech needs to move in this direction. More collaboration between the Psychology Department and the Health Sciences Center could strengthen the research in both units. We have increased collaborations in recent years, but there is still too large a barrier between the University and the Health Sciences Center.

  What are the implications of your institution's work for the future of this particular field or neighboring fields?

Our institution's work demonstrates the degree of diversity of the fields of psychology and psychiatry. We do not have large groups working together on research, but instead we have a number of faculty in different departments conducting very different types of research. The future for research in psychology is good, but the amount of diversity of research will probably increase. Just as human and animal behavior is highly complex and determined at many different levels, from genetics to neurons to the social environment, there will be many different types of research conducted. I do not see our field becoming unified, just as I do not expect that research in Psychology/Psychiatry at Texas Tech will become any less diverse.