Monica Adubofour
In the two years since graduating with a psych degree, alumna Monica Adubofour (class of 2014) has already worked for three of Silicon Valley’s most influential companies: Amazon, Google, and GoPro. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in Human Factors at Bentley University and will continue working for GoPro in user experience research after graduating. Monica describes how majoring in psychology at SCU helped prepare her for this career:
While it may sound dramatic, I owe my career as a user experience researcher almost entirely to the SCU Psych department. As an undergrad, I searched for tangible ways to apply what I learned in class and longed to find my “thing”. This drove me to volunteer as a research assistant in Dr. Bruchmann’s social psychology lab in the department. I realized I loved working with human subjects and when graduation rolled around, a faculty member emailed me a posting for an internship at Amazon. I got the job, and the opportunity led me to discover the field of user experience research. Now, I work each day using research to optimize the experiences everyday people have with everything from apps to physical products. I'm currently finishing my master's degree after about a year spent on Google's self-driving car team. Without a strong foundation in psych and guidance from caring SCU faculty, none of this would've been possible. I believe a major in psychology unlocks a world of opportunity. Within that world, there's room for everyone to thrive and make a positive impact.