People
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR
DIRECTOR, HUMAN FACTORS AND APPLIED COGNITION PROGRAM
| Office: | 2055 David King Hall |
| Mailing Address: |
4400 University Dr MS3F5 Fairfax, VA 22030-4444 |
| Phone: | 703-993-1357 |
| Email: | rparasur@gmu.edu |
Raja Parasuraman, Ph.D. has been Professor of Psychology at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA since 2004. In 2007 he was appointed to the position of University Professor. He is Director of the Graduate Program in Human Factors and Applied Cognition. He is also Chair of the Neuroimaging Core of the Krasnow Institute (NICKI). Previously he held appointments as Professor and Associate Professor of Psychology at The Catholic University of America, Washington DC from 1982 to 2004. He received a B.Sc. (1st Class Honors) in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London, U.K. (1972) and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Aston University, Birmingham, U.K. (1976).
Raja Parasuraman has long-standing research programs in two fields, human factors and cognitive neuroscience. The first area concerns human performance in human-machine systems, particularly the role of human attention, memory, and vigilance in automated androbotic systems. His second area of research is the cognitive neuroscience of attention, where he has conducted studies using information-processing paradigms, event-related brain potentials and functional brain imaging (PET, fMRI), both in normal populations and in relation to aging and Alzheimer’s disease. He also has a research thrust in the molecular genetics of cognition, specifically attention and working memory. Finally, Dr. Parasuraman has merged his interests in human factors (ergonomics) and cognitive neuroscience by developing the field of neuroergonomics, which he defines as the study of brain and behavior at work.
Raja Parasuraman’s research in these areas has been supported by several federal agencies, including NASA, NIH, DOD, and DARPA, as well as by private foundations. His books include The Psychology of Vigilance (Academic Press, 1982), Varieties of Attention (Academic Press, 1984), Event-Related Brain Potentials (Oxford University Press, 1990), Automation and Human Performance (Erlbaum, 1996), The Attentive Brain (MIT Press, 1998; reprinted in paperback, 2000), and Neuroergonomics: The Brain at Work (Oxford University Press, 2007; reprinted in paperback, 2008).
Raja Parasuraman served as a member of the Human Development and Aging Study Section of NIH from 1992 to 1995, and was a member of the National Research Council’s Panel on Human Factors in Air-Traffic Control Automation from 1994 to 1998. He was a member of the National Research Council Panel on Human Factors from 2000 to 2007 and served as Chair from 2001 to 2005. He is on the editorial board of several journals, including Ergonomics, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, and Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1994), the American Psychological Association (1991), the American Psychological Society (1991), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (1994), the International Ergonomics Association (2006), and a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (2001). He was also the recipient in 1997 and again in 2001 of the Jerome H. Ely Award for best paper in the journal Human Factors by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In 2004 he received the Franklin V. Taylor Award for Lifetime Achievement in Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology from the American Psychological Association (Division 21). In 2006 he received the Paul M. Fitts Education Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In 2009, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education for the State of Virginia. Finally, on a personal note, Raja Parasuraman has two college-age daughters, is an accomplished cook, plays guitar, and enjoys hiking and travel to distant lands.