The most daunting part about starting a tenure-track position was building a research pipeline that would sustain me through tenure. This shouldn’t be surprising; most new faculty talk about the “publish or perish” mentality that comes with academia, and I certainly found myself in that category. Honestly, if you ask most of the people I collaborate with, they will still say that I am fairly vocal about my fears surrounding publishing. Personally, I think half of the battle is finding the people you “click” with—who are interested in similar ideas, who will challenge you in a productive manner, and who make you want to be a better researcher. The second half of the battle, however, is trying to figure out what to be researching in the first place.

It is an honor to be writing for On the Legal Front again. I am delighted that Rich has done such outstanding work with the column, and, as expected, EEO matters continue to be of relevance to the SIOP community. During my tenure as columnist I devoted substantial space in this column to Supreme Court rulings, and the unique and varying perspectives of Supreme Court justices involved in each ruling.1 With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, the Court lost a stable and influential conservative judicial voice. Although we took a long and winding road to formally identify a Supreme Court nominee that will actually go through a confirmation process, Neil Gorsuch is President Trump’s candidate.

Welcome readers! Pop quiz: who was the first president of SIOP?

It was Bruce V. Moore, 1945-46! By the way, for a taste of the swashbuckling early days of I-O psychology, check out his SIOP president autobiography—I love how he casually tosses around names like Thorndike, James, and Thurstone!

On February 15, SIOP responded to a call for white papers from the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences (BBCSS) within The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to help shape initial work on Social and Behavioral Sciences for National Security: A Decadal Survey.  The Decadal Survey seeks to identify “the intelligence community’s needs and challenges with respect to the use of social and behavioral sciences (SBS) research for analytic capabilities.”

Whether pursuing a career as a scientist-practitioner or continuing to ascend the ranks of academia, early-career I-O professionals are likely to be in a position in which they must translate I-O specific topics to members of legislature. Acquiring grant funding is a near necessity to obtain tenure as an I-O professor, and the federal government is one of the leading employers of I-O psychologists, either as civil servants or via contract work (SIOP Member Salary Survey, 2016). A crucial aspect of success as an I-O professional lies in our ability to effectively communicate why we should be granted federal funding and how our research can influence federal policy related to the workplace. As a result, we sought to understand the intricacies of I-O translation when communicating with members of the federal government. We interviewed three esteemed I-O psychologists who each have demonstrated expertise and achievement in these areas: Denise Rousseau, Debra Major, and Lorenzo Galli (see biographies below).