Michael Siepmann, Ph.D.
The Tech Design Psychologist ™
I combine industry experience in technology design, expertise in scientific psychology that is both deep and broad, and practical psychological insight.
My nine years of study and research in psychological science started at the University of Stirling in Scotland and culminated in a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania—one of the top-ranked psychology departments in the world, and now home to Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology Center. The unusual flexibility of Penn’s doctoral program enabled me to work with two dissertation advisers – judgment and decision-making psychologist Jonathan Baron and social psychologist John Sabini – while also receiving rigorous training in clinical psychology that broadened my perspective and expertise.
I subsequently joined the Human Factors Engineering group at CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), where for over a decade I designed, evaluated, and usability-tested user interfaces for a diverse range of technologies including:
- Complex web applications used by employees and by wholesale, enterprise, and government customers
- Consumer web sites, applications, portals, and portal widgets
- A TV remote control, an interactive IPTV system, and a TV call and voice mail management system
- Installation instructions and packaging for DSL Internet service
- An Android mobile app with location-based features and a mobile-optimized “my account” web site
(Read more about my technology design work.)
As part of my lifelong efforts to help myself flourish, I complement my scientific knowledge of psychology with daily mindfulness meditation, which enhances my ability to bring concentration, clarity, and equanimity to my own conscious experience and to my thinking and decision making.
Affiliations
My professional affiliations include:
- Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- ACM’s Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (ACM SigCHI)