My journey with the Psychological Science Accelerator (PSA) started long before I had a graduate degree or any formal leadership title. I was an undergraduate student at Ashland University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher R. Chartier. At the time, I was mostly behind the scenes, doing the kind of work that rarely makes headlines but is absolutely essential to large-scale science.
I translated materials, reviewed study procedure videos, onboarded labs, helped implement multilingual versions of study protocols, and managed data collection logistics on our campus. I also helped write and send out newsletters to our growing global network and updated authorship lists for preprints on PsyArXiv. It was admin work, yes, but even then, I could feel the scale and importance of what the PSA was building: a global, collaborative approach to psychology that took open science and cultural diversity seriously.
Those early days set the foundation for everything that came next.
Upon graduating in 2020, I continued working in psychology with labs around the world through the PSA. Since its beginnings, I’ve been a core contributor to every PSA study and often serving on project administrative teams. One of the highlights of this period was organizing and implementing two international, 3-day virtual conferences where psychological scientists from across the globe came together to strategize how to make our science more reliable, generalizable, and inclusive.
Planning these conferences deepened my awareness of how global collaboration requires more than just good intentions. I structured the schedule using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to avoid privileging U.S. and European time zones, ensured that early career and non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) researchers had ample presentation opportunities, and made sure access was free to remove financial barriers. It was exciting to see these conferences connect researchers across disciplines, geographies, and career stages, and to see the PSA’s values reflected not just in our research, but in how we gathered as a community.
While much of my early work was focused on project monitoring, those experiences taught me about bottlenecks in research implementation, especially in cross-cultural contexts. I learned how to write protocols that were easier to execute across different languages and infrastructures. More importantly, I began to see how Western norms shape so much of our research, and how necessary it is to intentionally push back against that bias. The PSA gave me my first chance to work with non-WEIRD participants and collaborators, and it fundamentally changed the way I approach psychological science.
During graduate school at the University of Alabama, I took on even more responsibility. I helped collect data on two PSA projects and served as project manager on two massive studies:
- Semantic Priming Across Multiple Languages (25,000+ participants, 30 languages/dialects, 300+ collaborators), and
- The Cultural Prevalence of the Minimal Group Effect (200+ collaborators, currently in pre-data collection).
I also served on the admin team for the Registered Replication Report: A Large Multilab Cross-Cultural Conceptual Replication of Turri, Buckwalter, & Blouw (2015), which involved nearly 5,000 participants across 19 regions.
These projects gave me hands-on experience in open science practices, data management, cross-cultural research design, and the realities of coordinating hundreds of researchers across continents and time zones. Every project, no matter how complex, reinforced my belief that psychological science is at its best when it is collaborative, transparent, and globally inclusive.
Today, I’m proud to serve as the Co-director of the PSA.
In this role, I oversee the day-to-day operations of the network, help shape its strategic direction, and ensure that our functioning and policies stay true to our mission. I host training workshops, lead the transition toward becoming a nonprofit organization, coordinate with our board and assistant directors, and supervise the launch of new initiatives that move the field forward.
One of my current projects, led in partnership with my Co-director, Dr. Erin Buchanan, involves overseeing the call for new studies, which will soon be announced to our network. Together, we’re coordinating the review process, working closely with the committee to assess each project’s feasibility and alignment with our mission. We’ve also kicked off planning for our second year (as directors/organizers) of hosting BTSCon, our virtual conference that brings together researchers from around the world. We’re collaborating on everything from accessibility planning to program design, making sure the event remains as inclusive, energizing, and community-driven as ever.
Erin and I lead the PSA side by side. We divide responsibilities, support each other, and approach challenges with a shared commitment to transparency, openness, and inclusion. I’m constantly grateful to be in this work with someone whose brilliance, dedication, and humor make even the most complicated days feel possible. Our partnership is central to the work we do, and to how we envision leadership in a global, collaborative network like the PSA.
We’ve also implemented open office hours to increase leadership accessibility and regularly meet PSA committees to stay aligned and foster cross-team collaboration. Each year, we also manage the election of new associate and/or assistant directors, strengthening the PSA’s leadership pipeline and consistently bringing fresh perspectives into our decision-making spaces.
Working with the PSA has shaped me not just as a researcher, but as a person. It’s taught me that science is about more than data or methods, it’s about relationships, equity, and intention. It’s about asking questions that matter to everyone, not just the privileged few who have historically dominated the field.
Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, whether you’re in a well-resourced lab or working independently, from any region or background, if you’re looking for a community that values open, collaborative, and inclusive science, the PSA is a place where you can belong, contribute, and grow. We welcome all people to help build a more equitable future for psychological science. Reach out or drop into the Director office hours if you ever want to chat about how to get more involved.
Savannah C. Lewis through the 8 years of the PSA.
From 2nd year in my undergraduate program to Phd Candidate in my final year of Graduate school…
