Overview
The IUPUI Psychology Department provides its students with both a well-rounded education and the opportunity to explore specific areas of psychology in which they have special interests. Graduate education is a process of further refinement during which students become increasingly more proficient in and knowledgeable of an area of psychological specialization. The following three areas of specialization are available at IUPUI.
Clinical Psychology
The Department of Psychology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) grants both MS and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology, preparing students for careers as researchers, educators, direct service providers, and administrators. Our perspective is to focus upon health broadly defined, with an emphasis upon coping and adaptation, often with conditions that tend to be long term. Frequently the therapeutic goal is optimal adaptation despite disorder or medical impairment. Although the program offers the opportunity for strong clinical training, its primary emphasis is on the methods of behavioral science, and the program offers unusually rich opportunities for research and training.
Industrial Organizational Psychology
The Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O) Master of Science degree program has the explicit goal of being one of the premiere programs of its kind nationwide. The program is designed to prepare individuals for positions in industry or for entry into an I/O doctoral program. The scientist/practitioner training model is employed, emphasizing both work-relevant research and applying problem-solving skills to organizational problems. The primary focus of the curriculum is on traditional “industrial” (i.e., personnel) psychology and research methods, but students are exposed to the full range of “organizational” topics as well.
Psychobiology of Addictions
Psychobiology is the newest graduate PhD program available from the Psychology Department at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The degree is from Purdue University for work done entirely at Indianapolis, and is administered through the West Lafayette Psychology Department. The graduate training focuses on the actions and effects of alcohol and drugs of abuse on brain function and brain development, as well as on brain mechanisms of addictive behavior. The expertise of the faculty includes behavioral neuroscience, psychopharmacology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology and developmental psychobiology. The program is intended to prepare students for careers in traditional academic institutions, in medical neuroscience research environments, or in pharmaceutical industry or government research settings.