Episode #3: Interview with Emilie Roth

Naturalistic Decision Making

Date: 4/24/2020

Show Description:

“Today we are talking with our friend and colleague, Emilie Roth. I first met Emilie at the second Naturalistic Decision Making meeting in Dayton, OH in 1994, but she had been studying how people manage complexity long before that meeting. In fact, I remember at that meeting thinking: ‘I want to be like her.’ Emilie is one of the people that inspired me to think I really could be a scientist. And I know Emilie has inspired many others over the course of her career. She is one of the architects of the cognitive systems engineering movement. She had an important role in redesigning nuclear power plant control rooms in the wake of Three Mile Island. And that was just the beginning; her contributions have been felt far and wide. She now lives in Palo Alto, CA where she runs Roth Cognitive Engineering.”

Where to find Emily:

Roth Cognitive Engineering

Resources:

Oxford Handbook of Expertise

Designing collaborative planning systems: Putting Joint Cognitive Systems Principles to Practice

Cognitive work analysis

Facets of complexity in situated work

Learn more about NDM:

NaturalisticDecisionMaking.org

Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making

Where to find hosts Brian Moon and Laura Militello:

Brian’s website

Brian’s LinkedIn

Brian’s Twitter

Laura’s website

Laura’s LinkedIn

Laura’s Twitter

Timestamps:

Emily's first published paper [1:30]

Events that shifted Emilie’s focus from experimental psychology to NDM [7:30]

Developing the observation tools and methods for developing systems of expertise [12:25]

Challenges in creating expert decision-making models for nuclear operations at Westinghouse [17:15]

Experience navigating a world of engineers as a female psychologist [20:00]

The benefits of work culture at Westinghouse [21:45]

Observations of railroad industry culture, practices, and informal procedures [23:00]

Optimistic outlook on specific research and applications of NDM [28:45]

Two things about Emilie’s personal life that others might not know [34:20]

Three books that influenced Emilie’s work [38:00]

Associative thinking exercise [44:15]

Elaborating on automation pros and cons [45:25]