Vaughn-Cooke, Monifa
Brain and Behavior Institute
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. (Industrial Engineering), The Pennsylvania State University, 2012
- M.S. (Industrial and Systems Engineering), The University of Southern California, 2006
- B.S. (Biomedical Engineering), The University of Southern California, 2004
BACKGROUND
Dr. Vaughn-Cooke’s interdisciplinary research synthesizes cognitive psychology, systems engineering, and risk assessment. Her research aims to identify the behavioral mechanisms associated with system risk propagation to inform the design of user-centered products and systems. This involves: 1) Behavioral modeling of human error in hybrid systems (human-hardware-software); 2) Empirical data collection of human response (neurophysiological and subjective feedback) in 2D and 3D simulation environments and physical device prototypes; and 3) Descriptive and predictive modeling to identify and mitigate design-related sources of human error. Dr. Vaughn-Cooke’s research has been primarily applied to safety-critical technology applications in healthcare, such as patient self-management devices and hospital monitoring systems. Other recent applications include nuclear power plant and Unmanned Aerial System control rooms.