Esa Rantanen
Rochester Institute of Technology, Psychology, Faculty Member
- Human Computer Interaction, Attention, Judgment and decision making, Problem solving (Cognitive Psychology), Attention (Psychology), Research Methods (Psychology), and 7 moreAutomaticity, Cognitive Engineering, Systems Engineering (in ) defence, Mental Models (Psychology), Temporal Cognition, Situation Awareness (Psychology), and Psychologyedit
- Dr. Esa M. Rantanen trained as a commercial pilot with Finnair, the national carrier of Finland. He also has seven ye... moreDr. Esa M. Rantanen trained as a commercial pilot with Finnair, the national carrier of Finland. He also has seven years (1984–1991) of experience as an air traffic controller and an air traffic control instructor, as well as a participant in a number of technical and operational task forces with the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration and the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations.
Dr. Rantanen has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Aeronautical Science degree form Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. He also has a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering degree from the Pennsylvania State University, with specialization in human factors/ergonomics engineering. His Ph.D degree is from Penn State as well, in Engineering Psychology. At Penn State, he did research on human visual performance and workload measurement and temporal characteristics of human motor control.
Dr. Rantanen served as an assistant professor at the Institute of Aviation of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1999 to 2007, teaching courses in the graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Human Factors and undergraduate Aviation Human Factors program. Presently Dr. Rantanen is an associate professor of psychology at RIT (since fall 2007). He is primarily teaching courses in the MS in Experimental Psychology program and supervising graduate students’ thesis research in the Engineering Psychology track of the program.
Dr. Rantanen’s research interests lie in the areas of human factors in complex systems, human performance measurement and modeling, mental workload, decision making, and human error and reliability. The current application domains for his research are air traffic control (controllers’ situation awareness), healthcare (patient safety), and electric power control rooms (power system visualization).edit
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This paper describes how the air traffic management (ATM) problem is primarily temporal, sequencing arrivals at intervals such that the acceptance rate of a given runway is not exceeded. The current air traffic control automation efforts... more
This paper describes how the air traffic management (ATM) problem is primarily temporal, sequencing arrivals at intervals such that the acceptance rate of a given runway is not exceeded. The current air traffic control automation efforts are based on time-based metering of arrivals to major airports in the National Airspace System (NAS). Such metering systems assist controllers and air traffic managers by extending the prediction and projection horizons beyond to what is within the capabilities of unaided human cognition and provide through a number of different interfaces early warnings of excessive demand and feedback on the effect of various responses. However, the procedures to manage excessive demand are difficult to administer and result in compounding delays and wasted resources. This paper describes an algorithm that computes customized transition trajectories for aircraft approaching a designated runway in a manner that ensures minimum regulatory separation between successive aircraft. Putative benefits of the algorithm include maximal use of available resources, dynamic transitions between free and controlled flight, and reallocation of functions between human controllers and automated systems.
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A particular challenge to professors of human factors/ergonomics courses in academia is to make their syllabi and course contents relevant to the demands placed on graduates from human factors programs as they enter the labor market.... more
A particular challenge to professors of human factors/ergonomics courses in academia is to make their syllabi and course contents relevant to the demands placed on graduates from human factors programs as they enter the labor market. Recent surveys suggest that academic curricula indeed fall short of expectations in several critical areas. To respond to these challenges and the demonstrated deficiencies, a panel of human factors professionals from various areas in the industry suggested ways to incorporate relevant skills exercises in academic curricula. This panel is part of an ongoing dialog between employers of human factors/ergonomics professionals in the industry and the professors of human factors students in academia.
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Using signal detection theory (SDT) and fuzzy SDT, the influence of familiarity with phishing and having a background in cybersecurity on phishing behavior was examined. The results from SDT analysis indicated that familiarity with... more
Using signal detection theory (SDT) and fuzzy SDT, the influence of familiarity with phishing and having a background in cybersecurity on phishing behavior was examined. The results from SDT analysis indicated that familiarity with phishing only accounted for 11% of the variance in sensitivity and 5% in bias. When examining the same using Fuzzy SDT, familiarity with phishing accounted for 6% of the variance in bias. Background in cybersecurity had a statistically significant effect on sensitivity and bias in classical SDT but only on bias in fuzzy SDT. A confusion matrix revealed that the percentage of successfully transmitted information from the stimuli to the judgements made by participants was only 26%. Participants most frequently identified requests for personal information in stimulus emails as phishing cues. Future research should continue to explore application of the different cognitive engineering models to phishing identification.
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Machine learning (ML) is making significant inroads into the field of medicine. It can be used as a preventative measure by predicting a patient’s diagnosis and introducing early treatment to prevent adverse outcomes or lessen their... more
Machine learning (ML) is making significant inroads into the field of medicine. It can be used as a preventative measure by predicting a patient’s diagnosis and introducing early treatment to prevent adverse outcomes or lessen their impact. However, despite many demonstrated advantages of machine learning tools in health-care, their performance assessment remains partial at best. In particular, human interactions with machine learning tools in clinical settings remain poorly researched. This review examined machine learning tools in two important areas, sepsis diagnosis and suicide prediction. However, our exploration into the use of machine learning in sepsis and suicide prediction turned up no thorough human factors analyses of provider interactions with their machine learning tools, suggesting a critical research gap waiting to be filled.
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In today’s digital economy, the Internet of Things (IoT) has connected devices, humans, and everyday objects to each other in ways that were unimaginable before. Vast amounts of data are collected everywhere and disrupting how we design... more
In today’s digital economy, the Internet of Things (IoT) has connected devices, humans, and everyday objects to each other in ways that were unimaginable before. Vast amounts of data are collected everywhere and disrupting how we design systems and products. Data science and emerging technologies offer challenges and opportunities for early-career human factors professionals who are looking to grow their careers and their human factors practice. In this paper, we report on a survey to assess the perspectives of students currently studying human factors. The survey items examined shortfalls in current human factors education with re-spect to relevance to industry trends. The survey results show that students see a need to include more relevant subjects in data science, as well as opportunities to learn trending industry problems, hands-on experience with real-life projects, prior to graduation.
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This paper describes how the demands by airlines in recent years to move away from the constraints of the current air traffic control (ATC) system have prompted much research in two related avenues of human factors. The first is concerned... more
This paper describes how the demands by airlines in recent years to move away from the constraints of the current air traffic control (ATC) system have prompted much research in two related avenues of human factors. The first is concerned with assessing the effects implementing advanced ATC concepts, such as Free Flight, on controller performance, whereas the second is concerned with determining how automated tools can help controllers ensure that this performance is not negatively affected by the implementation of such concepts themselves. In both instances, a systematic evaluation process is required to make such assessments. Such evaluations however, have traditionally proven to be an arduous task given the relative difficulty of selecting the appropriate performance measure to effectively answer the research question being addressed. This paper tackles this problem by providing an evolving taxonomy of ATC performance measures. The goal of providing this taxonomy is to help researchers more easily identify and apply the relevant measurement techniques during empirical investigation.
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Many human factors issues in aircraft maintenance are directly related to the technicians' working environment and can be addressed in the maintenance facility design. The goal of this project was to identify and catalog human... more
Many human factors issues in aircraft maintenance are directly related to the technicians' working environment and can be addressed in the maintenance facility design. The goal of this project was to identify and catalog human factors issues that should be considered from the outset in the design of a new maintenance facility for the Institute of Aviation at the University of Illinois. Towards this end, the structure and functionality of the existing hangar was examined, the technicians were interviewed, and their tasks analyzed. Based on these data as well as results from link- and activity relationship analyses, human factors requirements were listed for each functional area of the proposed facility. A suggested layout for the new facility represents an optimum relative arrangement of the workspaces, positioning of the aircraft in the main hangar, and the flow of tools, materials, and documents within the facility from an explicitly human-centered perspective.
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of external aids (e.g., a kneepad) can reduce the demands of Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication on orking memory during routine flight. Older pilots may especially benefit from such aids because of ageeclines in working memory,... more
of external aids (e.g., a kneepad) can reduce the demands of Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication on orking memory during routine flight. Older pilots may especially benefit from such aids because of ageeclines in working memory, although cognitive declines may impair the ability to coordinate the use of s with concurrent flight navigation and control tasks. We investigated the use of two external aids that may ase of coordination: a conventional knee pad and an electronic notepad, or e-pad. Participants were 6 older ears) and 6 younger (20-40) active instrument-rated pilots. While in a Frasca flight simulator, they listened ead back complex (four-instruction) ATC messages while using the kneepad, e-pad, or no aid. Readback was analyzed by an Age x Aid x Instruction type (Heading, Altitude, Speed) ANOVA with Aid and on as repeated measures. Accuracy was higher when pilots used either aid compared to no aid, and lower for ots. The findings suggested a greater aid benefit for older...
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The application of phasor measurement unit (PMU) data in the power industry is currently an area of intense interest. The key driver for PMU technology is to use the precise time sources provided by Global Positioning System (GPS)... more
The application of phasor measurement unit (PMU) data in the power industry is currently an area of intense interest. The key driver for PMU technology is to use the precise time sources provided by Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to accurately measure the relative voltage and current phase angles at buses across an interconnect at a very high sampling rate. Presenting PMU data to power system operators in a format that is truly useful for them and that affords improved situation awareness (SA) and fast and accurate decision making is a particular challenge to display design. This paper described development of prototype displays of PMU data where the design criteria were derived from characteristics of the data as well as the situation awareness requirements of power system dispatchers. A prototype display that meets all these design criteria is described.
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Human factors/ergonomics is an applied discipline. As such, we question whether students are adequately prepared if they are not learning, at least in part, from instructors who have real-world experience applying human factors/ergonomics... more
Human factors/ergonomics is an applied discipline. As such, we question whether students are adequately prepared if they are not learning, at least in part, from instructors who have real-world experience applying human factors/ergonomics knowledge to practical design problems. A wide variety of other disciplines such as medicine, the building trades, clinical psychology, military strategy, aviation, and the visual and performing arts have all faced this question and come up with educational approaches that typically include educators who are highly skilled in the practice of the discipline. Terms such as practitioner-scholar and scientist-practitioner, and the apprentice models all reflect this notion of students learning from highly skilled, knowledgeable, and practiced professionals in their disciplines. Is it time for human factors/ergonomics education to adopt such a model?
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Education and career development of new generations of human factors professionals has rightly been a central concern the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society for many decades. There have been periodic surveys to track the changing... more
Education and career development of new generations of human factors professionals has rightly been a central concern the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society for many decades. There have been periodic surveys to track the changing employer expectations for new professionals, and there have been several panel discussion at the HFES Annual Meetings to address various issues in education of future professionals. There have been significant changes in academia, where many traditional disciplinary programs are declining and new interdisciplinary programs are emerging. These trends may present novel opportunities for education of the future human factors workforce. In this project we surveyed all courses in a university course catalog to identify courses that offer training, to varying degrees, in the Core Competencies as defined by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics. These courses could form a basis for interdisciplinary programs in human factors without being confine...
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The discipline of human factors and ergonomics is largely focused on principled development of generalizable solutions. The process is typically slow, spanning months, even years. A crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic presents a... more
The discipline of human factors and ergonomics is largely focused on principled development of generalizable solutions. The process is typically slow, spanning months, even years. A crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic presents a different problem. How can human factors and ergonomics professionals react quickly, within hours or days, to provide viable solutions to unanticipated problems as they become apparent? Here we report on a small project in which we were able to respond rapidly to an emergent COVID-19 requirement. Given time constraints, we had no opportunity to follow a systematic analysis and design strategy. Our development and testing strategies reveal lessons that can be applied more generally to development of human factors and ergonomics interventions within emerging crises.
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The effectiveness of ground-based flight training devices in teaching flying skills is measured by transfer of training, quantifiable by a transfer effective ratio (TER). The incremental transfer effectiveness ratio (ITER) determines the... more
The effectiveness of ground-based flight training devices in teaching flying skills is measured by transfer of training, quantifiable by a transfer effective ratio (TER). The incremental transfer effectiveness ratio (ITER) determines the transfer effectiveness of successive increments of training in the ground trainer. Previous research on a personal computer based aviation training device (PCATD) has shown that this device is effective for teaching instrument tasks (Taylor et al., 1996; 1999). In a later study as predicted by the incremental transfer of training theory of Roscoe (1971)., the greatest transfer of training effect was found for the group that received five hours compared to 10 and 15 hours of prior PCATD training in an airplane (Taylor et al., 2002b). In some cases the results indicate a complex pattern supporting the notion that more training in a PCATD is not necessarily better. The research reported here sought to replicate the previous findings by Taylor et al. (1...
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Nursing is a high workload profession, and excessive workload has been shown to have an adverse effect on patient care. Prior research has focused on patient-staff ratios and skill mix to analyze the relationship of workload and... more
Nursing is a high workload profession, and excessive workload has been shown to have an adverse effect on patient care. Prior research has focused on patient-staff ratios and skill mix to analyze the relationship of workload and degradation of care. This study used a comprehensive, multi-dimensional approach for analyzing nurses’ workload in a large general hospital. Workload drivers were introduced as unique factors that contributed to the totality of nursing workload. Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework was used to map out the work domain of nurses and identify sources of workload within it. The output was a collection of diagrams, tables, and interviews that illustrated areas in nursing that produced the most workload. A detailed integration of the material supported an estimation of workload experienced by nurses.