Human Factors
Human Interaction with Technology
SJSU is the primary Human Systems Integration university partner at NASA Ames Research
Center, contributing to all human factors work done there. Our researchers study the
ways in which air and space travel affect humans, exploring capabilities and limitations,
to help create safer launches and missions.
Back on Earth, human factors specializations at SJSU include autonomous driving, ergonomics, and industrial design applications from highway to home. Below is a rotating selection of our standout investigators in these fields.
○ Recent News and Highlights
○ Related Strength: Air and Space
○ Related Strength: Transportation and Urban Planning
Selected Publications
Feist, G. (2006). The Psychology of Science and the Origins of the Scientific Mind. Yale University Press.
Huang, G. & Pitts, B. (2022). Takeover requests for automated driving: The effects of signal direction, lead time, and modality on takeover performance. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 165.
Huang, G., et al. (2025). Toward AI Standardization: A Triadic Human-AI Collaboration Framework for Multi-Level Autonomous Mobility. IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI).
Luo, Y., Coppola, S., Dixon, P., et al. (2020). A database of human gait performance on irregular and uneven surfaces collected by wearable sensors. Scientific Data, 7.
Nathan-Roberts, D., et al. (2017). Looking Ahead: Human Factors in Sociotechnical Systems. Human Factors in Practice: Concepts and Applications, CRC Press.
Strybel, D. & Kumar, A. (2020). Civilian pepper spray for self-defense: Understanding user perception and impact of design on user performance. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 80.
Szladovics, N. & Palmer, E. (2024). Advertisement Blindness in Mobile Social Media Apps. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 68(1).
Award Highlights
Huang, "AI-Based Tactile Interfaces for Improved Safety and Wellbeing in Automated and Micro-Mobility Transportation" — American Honda Motor Company, Inc., 2025
Kumar, (co-PI), “Respiratory Protection for Firefighters Responding to Wildland Fires” — Office of the President, UC Board of Regents, 2023
Laraway, “Human Systems Integration: Collaborative Human Factors Research to Improve Safety, Efficiency, and Reliability of NASA’s Aeronautics and Space Missions” — NASA, 2021-2022
Nathan-Roberts, “UserWise Training Decay Grant” — UserWise, 2019
Palmer, “Evaluating Thermal Comfort Levels for Mobile Devices.” — Google, Inc.
Snycerski, “Future Vertical Lift: Collaborative Research on Flight Control, Autonomous Rotorcraft, and Human-Systems Interface Design” — NASA, 2021-22
Featured Faculty
Gregory Feist
Professor of Psychology
Personality, Creativity, Psychology of Science, Motivated Reasoning, Mental Health,
Psychology of Climate Change
ORCID: 0000-0002-3123-1069
Gaojian Huang
Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human-AI Interaction, Intelligent Mobility, Human-Machine Interface, Assistive Technology
ORCID: 0000-0001-8139-7481
Anil Kumar
Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human Factors and Automation, Human-machine Interface, Product Design and Development,
and Occupational Ergonomics
ORCID: 0000-0002-8546-4335
Yue Luo
Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Human Factors and Ergonomics, Human-Robot Collaboration, Wearable Technology, Human
Machine Interface, Data Analytics
ORCID: 0000-0002-0062-3190
Dan Nathan-Roberts
Associate Professor in the School of Information
Human Factors, User Experience, Healthcare, Sociotechnical Systems
ORCID: 0000-0002-4428-1823
Evan Palmer
Professor and Chair of Psychology
Attention, Perception, Vision, Visual Search, Human Factors
ORCID: 0000-0003-2791-4390
Potential collaborators and members of the media may contact us at officeofresearch@sjsu.edu.
