Don't work here - Psychologist US Army Research Institute Employee Review

Great colleagues, the work is enjoyable and meaningful, great leadership.

Sometimes things move slow. I don't think that is unique to ARI though. That's just the federal government in general.

Job security, great work/life balance, friendly coworkers

- The research is often challenging, not because the research questions are inherently difficult to answer but because you have to figure out how to navigate a ton of red tape. You also have to "sell" your research products to stakeholders. Most meetings are on handling red tape challenges, not on interesting research topics. - Research occurs at a snail's pace. - Everything goes through several levels of review. Want to publish something? Your paper will have to go through team leader review, peer review (understandable), chief review, librarian review, director review. Want to submit an abstract for a conference, make sure to send a draft to your team leader a month in advance. What you can research is limited to the mission of your specific team. You're often not acting as a researcher but a contract manager wherein you monitor the work of contractors hired to do research.