Dr. Sally Augustin

Sally Augustin, PhD, is an applied psychologist whose work informs the design of places, objects, and services that support desired cognitive, emotional, and physical outcomes/experiences. Her consulting clients include firms/organizations and individuals that produce and/or use designed solutions worldwide. 

Dr. Augustin's work has been discussed in publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Augustin, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, has written widely on science-informed design for a broad audience of people interested in the designed and natural worlds and is a 2024 TEDx speaker, as well as the editor of Research Design Connections (RDC). RDC reports and synthesizes (in everyday language) the findings of recent and classic research in neuroscience, cognitive science, and the social sciences that are useful to designers. 

Dr Augustin is the author of Designology (2019), Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (2009), and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (2012). She is also co-editor (with Nigel Oseland) of The Science of People and Office Design: Planning for Thinking, Discussing and Achieving (2025).

Sally has held/holds leadership positions in numerous international organizations including the American Psychological Association, Environmental Design Research Association, Association of Neuroscience for Architecture, Transdisciplinary Workplace Research Network, American Society of Interior Designers, and International Association of Applied Psychology. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Dr. Augustin has been on the faculty of Georgia State University (Welsh School of Art and Design) and held a research appointment at the University of California, Berkeley (Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces; School of Public Health). She is a graduate of Claremont Graduate University (PhD, psychology), the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (MBA, finance), and Wellesley College (BA, economics).