Dr. David Cades

Biography

Dr. David Cades is a Senior Scientist in Exponent’s Human Factors practice. Dr. Cades received his Ph.D. in Human Factors and Applied Cognition from George Mason University in 2011. He specializes in human factors investigations of vehicle operator behavior, including perception response time, visual perception, nighttime visibility, and distractions.  Dr. Cades has expertise in the testing and analysis of how interruptions and distractions affect performance. He has investigated the negative effects of distractions in environments, including, but not limited to, driving, commercial aviation, healthcare, offices, and classrooms.  He has applied this knowledge to see how distractions can cause errors that lead to accidents.  Dr. Cades has performed experiments exploring tools and strategies that can mitigate the deleterious effects of interruptions. With respect to aviation, specifically, he has collected over forty hours of data from airline pilots performing safety critical flight tasks with interruptions and distractions.Dr. Cades also has expertise in evaluating and designing graphical user interfaces including devices for use in automobiles and aircraft. He has previously been employed in the field of usability and user experience digital product design. He has investigated the effects of manual and voice-activated infotainment devices in automobiles. He also designed a dashboard display to assist drivers in maintaining safe speeds while driving in adverse conditions and explored how aging and glare affect people’s driving ability. For commercial aircraft, he has worked with pilots, air traffic controllers, and airline operations in support of FAA’s NextGen initiative.In Dr. Cades’s graduate work, he has utilized and presented on various statistical methods including Bayesian, Generalizabiltiy Theory, and Just Noticeable Differences. He has authored papers on driver behavior with respect to in-vehicle displays and devices, flight deck performance with novel systems and interruptions, the effects of glare on human vision, how attributes of interruptions affect task performance, ways to improve how people handle distractions, interruptions’ effects in different environments, and various statistical approaches for predicting and understanding research outcomes.Since joining Exponent, Dr. Cades has investigated vehicle operator behavior of automobiles, commercial trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, and aircraft. He has evaluated the adequacy of warnings on products and in their manuals and he has applied his experience to projects involving safety- and health- related user behaviors of industrial equipment, kitchen appliances, video game entertainment systems, home theater products, and personal protective equipment.

Education

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Admissions/Licenses

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