Augusta University alumna Dr. Lori Foster will serve as Fall Commencement speaker on Dec. 13

Dr. Lori Foster (BA ’94), the Distinguished Alumna for the College of Science and Mathematics at Augusta University in 2018, will serve as the keynote speaker for fall commencement at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at the James Brown Arena.

Foster currently serves as a professor of industrial-organizational psychology at North Carolina State University and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

She recently completed posts as a Fellow with the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team and as a behavioral sciences advisor to the United Nations.

In her academic role at N.C. State, she oversees the 4D Lab, which focuses on research at the intersection of work, psychology, technology and development.

“As an undergrad, the notion that psychology could be applied to solve problems in organizations was really exciting to me,” Foster said in 2018. “It was both the classroom stuff, but also this realization that it was a big deal that could actually be very useful for solving problems in the world.”

She currently serves as head of behavioral science at pymetrics, a company that uses neuroscience and data science to connect talent with job opportunities.

Foster is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

She has held visiting scholar appointments at a number of universities around the world, including the London Business School, Singapore Management University and the Universities of Valencia, Barcelona, and Bologna.

As a scientist-practitioner, she has more than 20 years of experience as a consultant, applying the science of work behavior to regional, state, national, and international organizations in the private and public sectors.

Foster has delivered hundreds of papers and talks to audiences in countries spanning six continents and her work has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Folha de São Paulo, ARS Technica, Fast Company, Fortune, Science, U.S. News and World Report, and Scientific American.

“Mentors have been incredible in my life, and they can come in many different sizes and shapes and forms,” she said. “There are a lot of synergies in terms of the various things I do, so leveraging the amazing network of students and colleagues and mentors that I have not only makes my work so much fun, but it means I’m not trying to do everything myself.”

Fall 2019 Commencement will begin at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, in the James Brown Arena.

Tickets will be required for all guests attending the commencement ceremony. There will also be a live webcast of the ceremony for those unable to attend.

Learn more about commencement.