Div. 5 President

David Mackinnon, PhD, is a foundation professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. He graduated from Harvard University in 1979 and earned the PhD in measurement and psychometrics from UCLA in 1986. He was an assistant professor of research at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Prevention Research from 1986 to 1990. He has been at Arizona State University since 1990 and is affiliated with the Prevention Intervention Research Center and the Research in Prevention Laboratory.  MacKinnon teaches graduate analysis of variance, mediation analysis and statistical methods in prevention research courses. He received the 2007 Arizona State University Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award. He has given numerous workshops and invited presentations in the United States and Europe. In 2011 he received the Nan Tobler Award from the Society for Prevention Research for his book on statistical mediation analysis. He has served on federal review committees, including a term on the Epidemiology and Prevention Research Review Committee and was a consulting editor for the journal, Prevention Science. MacKinnon has been principal investigator on many federally funded grants and has had a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant to develop and evaluate methods to assess mediation since 1990. He received the MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) award for this mediation analysis research. 

He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, American Psychological Association's Division of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, and inaugural fellow of the Society for Prevention Research. He is a Thomson-Reuters highly cited researcher.  

MacKinnon has wide-ranging interests in statistics and methodology but his primary interest is in the area of statistical methods to assess how prevention and treatment programs achieve their effects. He is committed to promoting quantitative and qualitative scientific methodology

President-Elect

Kurt Geisinger, PhD

Past President

Amy Schmidt, PhD, works as one of two general managers in the statistical analysis area of ETS’s research and development division, where she oversees all of the psychometric work for such tests as the GRE (General and Subject Tests), the TOEFL and TOIEC suite of products, the Advanced Placement and CLEP examinations and the SAT subject tests. 

Prior to obtaining her PhD in educational psychology from the Graduate School of the City University of New York, Amy was an elementary school teacher, where she developed skills that serve her well in her role in directing and mentoring a staff of almost a hundred professionals. Prior to joining ETS, Amy worked under another Div. 5 president, Wayne Camara, as the executive director of Higher Education Research at the College Board, and served as the chief psychometrician at the National League for Nursing. Amy has been actively involved in APA’s Div. 5 for quite a few years, serving as secretary for three years (the role is now referred to as the coordinating officer and secretary), as member-at-large for three years, as program chair for APA's Annual Convention for one year, and as historian for two years. She has also served as a member of APA’s Committee on Psychological Testing and Assessment (CPTA) during the time when the most recent edition of the standards were going through its final reviews. 

In addition to her involvement with APA, Amy is an active member of NCME, AERA and has served on the board of directors for the Association of Test Publishers for two terms. 

Her outside interests include choral singing, crossword puzzles/puzzle tournaments and reading