Assessment Focused Research in Human Performance and System Design

Title: Assessment Focused Research in Human Performance and System Design

Speaker: Prof. Lauren Reinerman, University of Central Florida (UCF)

Time: September 27, 2017, 14:00-15:00

Location: No. 25 teaching building, 3th floor, B classroom

Abstract

Assessment for understanding, predicting, and improving human performance and system design is a key area of research for the Prodigy Laboratory at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training (USA). Assessments are behavioral, psychological, physiological, performance, and phenomenological. Assessments are important in the domains of nuclear power plant operations, human-robot teaming, training and education, medical practice, and space travel. This talk will discuss assessment approaches in those domains for explaining and identifying constructs such as decision making, workload, stress, worry, engagement, awe, wonder, vigilance, and more.

Bios

Associate Professor Lauren Reinerman-Jones, PhD is the Director of Prodigy at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training, focusing on assessment for explaining, predicting, and improving human performance and system design. She leads a multi-disciplinary team of 25 consisting of human factors experts, computer engineers, modelling and simulation students, and industrial engineers and holds a joint appointment with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems. Specifically, Dr. Reinerman-Jones emphasizes skill evaluation and improvement recommendations. As such, electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), transcranial Doppler (TCD), functional Near-Infrared (fNIR), eye tracking, and wearable devices are used independently and in combination, synchronized with one another and with simulated and live environments. Our real-time physiological logging capability enables closed-loop human-robot teaming and intelligent tutoring. Our post-hoc data processing tool allows gigs of physiological and survey data to be compiled into an Excel spreadsheet in minutes for analysis. A variety of simulation environments are available through Prodigy. The Northrup Grumman VIPE system (7 feet tall, 120 degree viewing area) has been employed in an international collaboration with astronauts, philosophers, and art historians to investigate experiences such as awe and wonder in a simulated space environment employing neurophenomenological methods. Dr. Reinerman-Jones also runs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Human Performance Test Facility, thereby housing a full physics-based nuclear power plant main control room simulator enabling team assessment. A partnership with the Air Force has enabled accommodation of the RESCHU, ALOA, and IMPACT simulators for investigating stress, fatigue, resilience, transparency (trust), and multiple entity control performance during unmanned aerial vehicle operation. The Mixed Initiative Experimental (MIX) testbed and the Experimental Platform for Instrumentation and Controls (EPIC) are award winning simulated environments developed in-house, but used throughout the world. Several robots and communication interfaces have been developed and are used for human-robot teaming experiments. Prodigy runs between 500-1000 participants per year, both UCF students and field studies, for funded programs. Dr. Reinerman-Jones has over a hundred publications and is on the board of a variety of journals and conferences.

Dr. Jinchao Lin is a post-doctorate at the Institute for Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida. He completed his doctoral degree in Modelling and Simulation with his dissertation demonstrating the feasibility of a single operator managing multiple UAV’s using different levels of automaton under various task demands. It furthered understanding of the impact of automation and workload on human performance and stress in the UAV context. In addition, it may have applied implications for UAV operation and personnel selection. This study implies that an intermediate level of automation may mitigate operator fatigue and aid task performance, especially in demanding tasks. Dr. Lin received his BS from the University of Jinan in Applied Psychology. He has several published works and continues research in UAV operations, as well as inside threat behavior detection.