Team
Laura Saad is an National Research Council postdoctoral research associate in the Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. She received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology in 2023 from Rutgers University. Her research focuses on developing more refined measures of the sense of agency—the experience of control over one’s actions and outcomes—with the broader goal of applying these measures in HRI contexts.
Eileen Roesler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at George Mason University, specializing in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition Group. She is a researcher in the field of human-automation interaction, with a specialized focus on the complex challenges stemming from interactions with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. With a profound curiosity for the evolving landscape of human-automation synergy, Dr. Roesler’s work delves into unraveling the complexities of how individuals engage with and respond to novel technological advancements. Her expertise lies in dissecting the dynamics that arise at the intersection of human relations with these emerging technologies and scrutinizing the behavioral, cognitive, and social aspects of such interactions. Through the investigations at the human-agent collaboration laboratory (hac-lab), Dr. Roesler and her team shed light on the multifaceted challenges that characterize the interactions between humans and novel (embodied) technologies, thereby paving the way for a more intuitive and socially conscious relationship with the technologies that will shape our future.
Elizabeth “Beth” Phillips is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition Group at George Mason University. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida and completed her Post-Doctoral work in the Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative at Brown University. Her expertise is in human interactions with robots, autonomous systems, and related technologies like augmented and virtual reality. She studies how we can design these systems to be better partners and teammates for people in the near future. She has an interest in how robots and other technologies are changing the way we interact with the world and one another, including the future of human relationships. Her research background is diverse and interdisciplinary and includes collaborations with researchers in the departments of engineering and industrial design, computer science, cognitive science, and commercial product companies outside of the university. She is also the co-creator of the Anthropomorphic RoBOT (ABOT) Database, a collection of images of and data about real-world human-like robots. ABOT was created as a resource to enable systematic, generalizable, and reproducible research on the psychological effects of robots’ human-like appearance.
Greg Trafton is the section head for the Intelligent Systems Section in Artificial Intelligence Center at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.
Contact Info
Email: laura.s.saad.ctr@us.navy.mil
