Dr. Bennett is a Full Professor in the WSU Department of Psychology and a member of the Human Factors / Industrial Organizational PhD program. He specializes in human-computer interaction (i.e., display and interface design); the focus is on using mature interface technologies to design effective decision making and problem-solving support for complex, computer-mediated work domains. 

Dr. Bennett applies the Cognitive Systems Engineering / Ecological Interface Design (CSE / EID) approach in his work. It is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework for analysis, design, and evaluation which explicitly recognizes the critical role of the “human in the loop” in complex systems. Displays and controls are designed that simultaneously 1) reflect the properties of the work domain and 2) leverage the powerful perception and action skills of the human. For example, ecological visual displays allow workers to literally see the solution to a problem, rather than using limited cognitive resources to laboriously solve the problem (often required with other displays), The result is an improvement in both the efficiency and safety of work. 

Dr. Bennett was first introduced to the CSE / EID approach in the mid 1980’s. Since then he has applied this approach to develop decision support for a variety of work domains including process control, aviation, command and control, cyber security and manufacturing. He has also contributed to the refinement of the theoretical underpinnings of CSE / EID, including developing accepted principles of both design and evaluation. He has obtained approximately 50 research grants, contracts, and fellowships from a wide variety of funding agencies including ARL, AFOSR, AFRL, ONT, DARPA, IARPA, and AFMC. He has authored approximately 50 major publications (book, articles, chapters) and over 110 secondary publications (e.g., invited presentations, proceedings, demonstrations, tech reports) which has been well-received, winning a number of national / international awards.

Dr. Bennett heads the Cognitive Systems Engineering Lab here at WSU and for additional information about him, his research, see the links to his personal webpage and Google Scholar found under the "My Links" tab at the top right of this webpage.

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Areas of Expertise

Cognitive Systems Engineering, Ecological Display and Interface Design, Computerized Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Support, Perception / Action / Cognition

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Education

Ph.D., Applied- Experimental Psychology, The Catholic University of America, 1984

M.A., Applied- Experimental Psychology, The Catholic University of America, 1982

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