12th International Naturalistic Decision Making Conference--June 9-12

12th International Naturalistic Decision Making Conference  (I'm scheduled to speak Wednesday morning...to human factors engineers)

Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) research emerged in the 1980s and studies how people make decisions in "real-world settings." In particular, it focuses on peoples' level of expertise in diverse professional domains and analyzes how experience allows people to rapidly categorize situations to make effective decisions. And because situations can often include dynamic, uncertain, and rapidly-changing conditions, with the ultimate decision having significant consequences, NDM research seeks to help people understand how to make the best decisions possible.

NDM methods emphasize descriptive studies conducted in field and operational workplace settings. Research findings have been used to improve performance, revise doctrine and process, develop training that is focused on decision requirements, and design information technologies to support decision making and related cognitive functions.

Examples of topics include:

• Methods to study and support rapid decision making
• Designing visualizations and user interfaces to improve sense making
• Assessing cultural competence
• Designing more effective human-computer planning systems
• Bringing evidence-based decision making to bear in civilian and government agencies
• Decision making under stress
• Aiding police in the detection of imminent terrorist attacks

Applications to areas such as cyber space, intelligence, healthcare, aviation, and sports will be discussed at the conference.

Registration

Registration for the conference includes access to all of the presentation sessions at the conference (see Agenda Overview & Program Outline below). It also includes a continental breakfast and boxed lunch each day, along with two conference receptions on 9 & 11 June. Because of limited available seating, only the first 136 to register will receive the added bonus of a conference banquet and speakers. Spouses can attend the banquet for an additional separate fee.

There will be two optional events at this year's conference.

• 11 June: there will be a Social Recognition Prime Dinner at Seasons 52 restaurant in the Tysons Corner shopping mall attached to the conference hotel. The dinner will include 4-course dinner, wine, and beverages. An option to charge this separately is available on the registration site. Spouses are welcomed.
• 12 June: three half-day tutorial alternatives.

Agenda Overview

Distinguished invited speakers:

• Dr. Alvin Roth, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012, applies economic theory to solutions for "real-world" problems.
• Dr. Gary A. Klein is a senior scientist at MacroCognition LLC, who pioneered the field of naturalistic decision making.
• Dr. Judith Orasanu, Principal Investigator/Team Lead for Distributed Team Decision Making, NASA, Systems Safety Research Branch, Ames Research Center, was a founder of the NDM community of interest.
• Mr. John Willison, Director, Command, Power, & Integration, U.S. Army RDECOM CERDEC. Mr. Willison is responsible for leading the technical program for all Army Battle Command Systems.
• Dr. David Woods a full professor in Integrated Systems Engineering at the Ohio State University, focuses on the foundations and practice of Cognitive Systems Engineering.
• Professor Tom Ormerod, Head of Psychology at the University of Sussex, is a cognitive psychologist who has studied naturalistic decision-making for over thirty years.
• Dr. Marvin Cohen is a principal investigator at Perceptronics Solutions on projects directed toward the understanding and training of critical thinking and leadership.
• Commander Joseph Cohn, PhD. is the Deputy Director, ASD/R&E Human Performance Training and BioSystems (HPT&B) Directorate.
• COL Matthew Hepburn, Marine Corps, USA, is the DARPA program manager for the Strategic Social Interaction Modules program (SSIM).

If you have questions or wish to submit a poster, please contact the NDM Committee.