{"599266":{"#nid":"599266","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thom Gable, Ph.D. in Psychology","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcademic life was agreeable to Thomas M. Gable. The transition from college to graduate school was eased by friendships and the joy of working in a Georgia Tech research lab that suited him well. He graduates with a Ph.D. in Psychology, with a major in Engineering Psychology and a minor in Human Computer Interaction: Qualitative Research and Information Visualization.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThom earned a B.S. in Psychology from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.wooster.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Wooster\u003C\/a\u003E, in Wooster, Ohio. Within two weeks of his college graduation, he came to Georgia Tech. He worked for one year as a researcher in the lab of School of Psychology Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/~walkerb\/\u0022\u003EBruce Walker\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The fit was great with my lab and my advisor,\u0026rdquo; Thom says. So when he was ready to do a Ph.D., he decided to stay put.\u0026nbsp; Along the way to the Ph.D., he received the M.S. in Psychology, in 2015.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Georgia Tech had the best program for what I wanted,\u0026rdquo; Thom says. The School of Psychology\u0026rsquo;s graduate program \u0026ldquo;allowed me to work across disciplines, which doesn\u0026rsquo;t happen often in graduate school.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaving enjoyed the academic lifestyle for a while, Thom has moved on. He now works for Microsoft, in Seattle, Wash., as a user experience (UX) researcher.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the most important thing you learned at Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFinding out what I wanted to do when I graduated.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough taking classes that interested me, connecting with people whose jobs I thought sounded interesting, and reading outside of my academic classes, I was able to determine what field I wanted to go into and to develop a general plan of how to get there.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat surprised you most at Georgia Tech? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe friendships I gained through my lab, classes, and extracurricular activities really surprised me.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I went to graduate school, I expected to be less involved in campus activities than when I was an undergrad. But I ended up being just as much, if not more, active in student life at Georgia Tech, which was surprising because the College of Wooster is so small and Georgia Tech is so big.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEven though as a Ph.D. student I often stayed off campus and had more of a personal life, I still created really great friendships in my lab and program, and even a few across the graduate student population.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhich professor(s) or class(es) made a big impact on you?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy advisor, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/~walkerb\/\u0022\u003EBruce Walker\u003C\/a\u003E, made the largest impact on me. He took a huge gamble by offering a lost undergraduate student \u0026ndash; me \u0026ndash; a research associate position in his lab after showing me around and talking about his team\u0026rsquo;s research when I happened to be in town and reached out to him to learn more about his lab and his field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe time in his lab, as well as his classes on \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/~walkerb\/classes\/perception\/\u0022\u003ESensation and Perception for psychology majors\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/~walkerb\/classes\/ms-hci\/index.html\u0022\u003EHuman Computer Interaction\u003C\/a\u003E, gave me more knowledge in the field of user experience (UX) and taught me more about leadership, working in teams, and psychology than I could ever have expected.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your most vivid memory of Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy most vivid memories are those of my lab-mates and me in the lab working on projects or just spending a few minutes together toward the end of the day. Getting to know each other through projects, spending time together, and just shooting ideas off of each other allowed us all to develop close relationships.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat was the most important outcome of your participation in unique learning activities (research abroad, field work)?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI taught two psychology courses in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oie.gatech.edu\/content\/barcelona-summer-program\u0022\u003EBarcelona Summer Program\u003C\/a\u003E, a study-abroad program for undergraduates. Because of this gig, I got lot of good experience lecturing and interacting with Georgia Tech undergrads while also honing my skills and becoming extremely knowledgeable in the subjects I taught, both of which I use in my current position.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI also interned at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/x.company\/\u0022\u003EX\u003C\/a\u003E, Google\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;moonshot\u0026rdquo; research and development facility. The summer internship gave me experience in industry and allowed me to focus my future education on understanding this area better. It also helped me decide that UX was what I wanted to do after graduation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice would you give to incoming graduate students at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ERemember that graduate school is another part of your life, not your whole life. A Ph.D. is a marathon, not a sprint; give yourself time off each day and take days off once in a while.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDo something for yourself each day, whether it\u0026rsquo;s getting exercise, watching a show, reading a book for pleasure, or spending time with friends or family.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ETake advantage of all the resources available to you through Georgia Tech, like the gym, the library, and other facilities; you\u0026rsquo;re paying for them after all!\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere are you headed after graduation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI started a full time position at Microsoft, based in Seattle. I work in their mixed- realities division as a UX researcher. In this role, I investigate how people interact with the next generation of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies and make them better for users. My research and classes in engineering psychology and human-computer interaction gave me the knowledge I need to be successful in this role.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Advice to new students: Do something for yourself each day"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcademic life was agreeable to Thomas M. Gable. The transition from college to graduate school was eased by friendships and the joy of working in a Georgia Tech research lab that suited him well. He graduates with a Ph.D. in Psychology, with a major in Engineering Psychology and a minor in Human Computer Interaction: Qualitative Research and Information Visualization.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Academic life was agreeable to Thomas M. Gable. The transition from college to graduate school was eased by friendships and the joy of working in a Georgia Tech research lab that suited him well. "}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2017-11-29 19:42:16","changed_gmt":"2017-11-29 19:42:16","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-12-12T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"599227":{"id":"599227","type":"image","title":"Thom Gable, Ph.D. in Psychology, Fall 2017","body":null,"created":"1511900574","gmt_created":"2017-11-28 20:22:54","changed":"1511900574","gmt_changed":"2017-11-28 20:22:54","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228441","name":"Thom Gable2.square.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thom%20Gable2.square.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thom%20Gable2.square.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1039351,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Thom%20Gable2.square.jpg?itok=TzZ_5XRj"}}},"media_ids":["599227"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"}],"keywords":[{"id":"176345","name":"Fall 2017 Graduates"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"176358","name":"Thomas Gable"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}