Faculty Directory

Vaughn-Cooke, Monifa

Vaughn-Cooke, Monifa

Assistant Research Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Center for Risk and Reliability
Brain and Behavior Institute

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. (Industrial Engineering), The Pennsylvania State University, 2012
  • M.S. (Industrial and Systems Engineering), The University of Southern California, 2006
  • B.S. (Biomedical Engineering), The University of Southern California, 2004

BACKGROUND

Dr. Vaughn-Cooke’s interdisciplinary research synthesizes cognitive psychology, systems engineering, and risk assessment. Her research aims to identify the behavioral mechanisms associated with system risk propagation to inform the design of user-centered products and systems. This involves: 1) Behavioral modeling of human error in hybrid systems (human-hardware-software); 2) Empirical data collection of human response (neurophysiological and subjective feedback) in 2D and 3D simulation environments and physical device prototypes; and 3) Descriptive and predictive modeling to identify and mitigate design-related sources of human error. Dr. Vaughn-Cooke’s research has been primarily applied to safety-critical technology applications in healthcare, such as patient self-management devices and hospital monitoring systems. Other recent applications include nuclear power plant and Unmanned Aerial System control rooms.

Human reliability Assessment, Human factors, Empirical Human Performance Modeling,  Experimental Design, Healthcare system and medical device design,  Design decision making, Psychometric tool development,  Bio-behavioral risk assessment.


ENRE 645/ ENSE 698G / ENME 489: Human Reliability Analysis

Methods of solving practical human reliability problems, cognitive and behavioral modeling, task analysis, performance shaping factors, error classification, distribution of human performance and uncertainty bounds, sources of human error probability data, human error risk mitigation, examples and case studies.

 

ENME 472: Integrated Product and Process Development

Integration of product development with the development process. design strategies. Product architecture. Design for manufacturing. Selection of materials. Design for assembly.

Selected Publications

 Google Scholar Profile

 

Vaughn-Cooke speaks at virtual reality event on Capitol Hill

Panelists discussed a need for government support and emphasized VR's potential for applications beyond gaming.

Engineering systems for mental health work by Espy-Wilson, Resnik, Vaughn-Cooke featured in Newsweek

Research on quantifiable indicators could result in mental health tracking app.

Resnik, Vaughn-Cooke interviewed about mental health tracking in Newsweek

Technological tools to flag problems could have a huge impact on serious mental illness.