After a short teaching position at Drake University, Ford returned to his Alma mater to attain his doctoral degree under Professor Pillsbury.
[1] In 1931, Ford left Michigan to take over as the head of the psychology department at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania where he remained till his retirement in 1955.
After retiring, Ford moved to San Diego to work with the United States Navy Electronic Laboratory.
[1] It was Ford's belief that experimental psychology ought to be a "study of human and animal behavior with its attributes, variations, and determinates".
In this journal they examined the electrical method of the electro-oculogram (EOG), a device used to record eye movement.
", examining electroencephalography potentials that were recorded while resting compared to subjects engaging in mental arithmetic.