I’m Karyssa Courey a current Ph.D. candidate at Rice University.

Hello! I am a fourth year Ph.D. candidate at Rice University advised by Dr. Fred Oswald. As an industrial-organizational psychologist, I am broadly interested in applying Bayesian methods to applied organizational problems to improve decision-making and statistical communication. I am currently funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP).

Research interests:
  • Fairness in staffing (e.g., disparate impact and treatment)
  • Research methods (e.g., Bayesian statistics, psychometrics, multilevel modeling, data visualizations)
  • Statistical communication (e.g., frequentist versus Bayesian methods)
  • Decision-making (e.g., fuzzy-trace theory, skilled decision theory, risk/uncertainty)

I enjoy teaching statistics and I-O psychology topics. I am currently an instructor of record for introduction to industrial and organizational psychology, and last year, I taught quantitative analysis for social sciences (psychology lab) in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Before that, I was a teaching assistant for graduate-level statistics in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. Beyond Rice, I post educational videos on YouTube that cover various topics, including Bayesian statistics and APA 7 formatting guidelines for data visualizations.

I am a predoctoral fellow at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), and I have previously completed data analysis and measurement work with HumRRO, the Association of American Medical Colleges, OpenStax, and Development Corps, among others. Throughout my time at Rice, I have also provided pro bono consulting to animal shelters through the Volunteer Program Assessment, and supported Title IX rights on campus as a member of Graduate STRIVE: Students Transforming Rice Into a Violence-Free Environment, which provides graduate students with resources and connections to campus resources.

In my free time you can find me listening to podcasts and music, running outside, lifting weights, and reading thriller fiction.

Feel free to reach out if you are interested in collaborating or want to chat about research!