Boeing Human Factors Engineer Applies His PhD Work

Name: Stephen Cauffman (he/him)

PhD: Psychology - Human Factors and Applied Cognition, North Carolina State University, 2020

What is your current job?

I am a Flight Deck Human Factors Engineer for Boeing, based in Everett, Washington.

I provide human factors support for the development and certification of the autoflight systems on Boeing commercial airplanes. This can involve task analysis, error analysis, evaluations in our flight simulators, requirements development and verification, and even has the opportunity for conducting flight tests.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

I get to apply the thing I studied for to something I am genuinely interested in and tackle complex problems.

What is the most important skill you developed or experience you had during your PhD that now helps you in your current position?

Task prioritization. It's very important to be able to understand what needs to get done in what order, particularly when you are juggling multiple competing priorities.

How did you build the skills necessary for your current role?

I took whatever opportunities I could get my hands on. Specifically, internships and research projects. Internships are great for industry experience and research grants are good for broadening horizons and building knowledge.

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

I saw a job opening on LinkedIn and got connected with one of the Technical Fellows in Flight Deck.

PhD graduation ➡️ postdoctoral fellow ➡️ Human Factors Engineer at Blue Origin ➡️ Current Role

If someone is interested in a similar role, what would you recommend they start doing now to prepare?

Try to familiarize yourself with some basics of engineering processes. Understand what requirements are and how they are used. Learn about what the FAA aircraft certification process looks like and what pilots have to do to fly a plane.

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

I found myself more attracted to applied problems and industry offers more opportunities for applied work. It was personally an easy decision.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

1. Think about what interests you the most. School is the best time to start figuring out what you want to do.

2. Reach out to people and network. Talk to them about their roles.

And for those interested, what was your main area of research?

I studied the impact in human perception of space and spatial relationships between objects when multiple perspectives are presented. For example, if you drive with a GPS, you have the perspective of your eyes and the map display. Successful navigation relies on combining the two perspectives.