People
| Office: | 2064 David King Hall |
| Mailing Address: |
4400 University Dr MS3F5 Fairfax, VA 22030-4444 |
| Phone: | 703-993-8292 |
| Email: | dcades@gmu.edu |
David is a doctoral candidate in the Human Factors and Applied Cognition program at George Mason University interested in interrupted task performance, multiple task management, and research methodology and statistics. David received his Bachelor of Science degree in Human Factors and Engineering Psychology from Tufts University in 2003. He is currently a Scientist at Exponent Failure Analysis and Associates.
Interrupted Task Performance
David is researching why and how interruptions are disruptive in dynamic environments with Dr. Deborah A. Boehm-Davis, Dr. J. Gregory Trafton, and Dr. Chris Monk. He is primarily interested in what aspects of interrupting tasks make them more or less disruptive, how people can be trained to deal with interruptions, and how people process interruptions in naturalistic environments. Additionally, he is currently examining how individual differences affect people's abilities to perform tasks with interruptions.
Driver Distraction and In-Vehicle Design and Analysis
David is examining how various in-vehicle devices affect drivers' abilities to operate their vehicles safely and efficiently. This work has been comprised of two main projects: an evaluation of Ford/Microsoft SYNC® and a design project called SLIC (Speed Limits for Inclement Conditions) aimed at helping drivers maintain safe speeds while traveling in sub-optimal conditions. This work has been done in collaboration with a number of graduate students under the supervision of Dr. Chris Monk. The SYNC® evaluation (PDF) was featured in User Experience, a publication of the Usability Professionals Association. The SLIC design was one of three North American Finalists in the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles design competition, has been featured in and presented at a number conferences and media outlets, and has both a patent pending on the design and trademark pending on the name. More information on SLIC can be found at the SLIC website.
Naturalistic Distractions
David is working with Dr. Kara Latorella at NASA Langley Research Center through the Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellowship to investigate the role of interruptions on the flight deck. Specifically, he is working to develop a tool to help mitigate the disruptive effects of interruptions in this environment.
Multiple Task Management
This line of research, with Dr. Deborah A. Boehm-Davis, is aimed at integrating findings from the fields of interruptions, dual-tasking, multi-tasking, and task switching in effort to further our understanding of, generally, how people handle multiple tasks. We are currently investigating differences in how people switch tasks based on whether or not the switch is voluntary.
Research Methodology and Statistics
Under the guidance of Dr. Patrick E. McKnight and the Measurement, Research Methodology, Evaluation, and Statistics (MRES) lab, David is exploring how Generalizability Theory (G-Theory) can be used to aid experimentalists in drawing stronger inferences from their findings. He is also pursuing how the Just Noticeable Difference measure can be applied to various fields to increase predictve utility. Current work in this area is in developing predictive models of Major League Baseball and Tennis outcomes in addition to applications within psychology.