After more than five years of service, School of Psychology Professor and Chair Howard M. Weiss has decided to step down as school chair effective on June 30, 2017. Professor of Psychology Frank Durso will take over as interim chair on July 1, 2017.

During Weiss’s tenure, “the school has done well,” says College of Sciences Dean and Sutherland Chair Paul M. Goldbart. Among Weiss’s many achievements, Goldbart says, the undergraduate program has grown, a new Work Science Center has been launched, and the school has been a key partner in creating the B.S. in Neuroscience program. The new degree program has started accepting students for the Fall 2017 semester.

“On behalf of the leadership team, I thank Howard warmly for his service to the school and the wider Georgia Tech community,” Goldbart says.

Weiss will continue his research in the Work Experience Laboratory, which he directs. The lab is “committed to understanding the first-person experience of work, from the immediate episodic feeling of what it is like to be working to the broader autobiographical narratives that people create to provide coherence for their work lives.”

Until a new chair is named, Frank Durso will lead the School of Psychology. Durso directs the Engineering Psychology Program, which focuses on understanding the capabilities and limitations of human performance and using the knowledge to design systems and environments to accommodate them. For his own research, Durso leads the Cognitive Ergonomics Laboratory, which studies the relationship between human operators and the tools they use in dynamic environments, from air traffic control to health care.

“I look forward with excitement in partnering with Frank to further elevate the school as we undertake the search for the next chair,” Goldbart says.