A key requirement of battlefield systems is that they have to work without demanding too much of the user’s concentration, attention and patience.

One of the questions Dr. Sherry Springs asks about every project she works on for the U.S. Navy is, “How much mental workload is this going to be?

“Mental workload for the users is very important because we have to add the stress of the environment,” she says. “They have a lot they have to pay attention to.”

Springs is a human systems engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va. She works on robotic systems, computer systems and a variety of other systems used in battle, making sure they can be operated with maximum efficiency and simplicity.

In a world where new adversaries keep bringing new tactics – improvised explosive devises, suicide bombers and other unconventional threats – military personnel can’t be distracted or preoccupied with how their equipment works.

“Our goal is to always keep the human operator in mind,” she says, “because you could design a very cool system and it could exactly what it’s designed to do, but if the human operator can’t use it, if they don’t trust it, or if it’s more complex than they really need, they won’t use it.”

The teams she works with get involved early in the design phase to make sure that as the program progresses, the engineering team doesn’t lose track of the human factors involved –usability, training requirements, effect on the safety and health of the operator and many more.

“We know they’re already in a stressful environment, so we don’t want to give them a system that will add to their stress. Our goal is to make sure that it’s as useable as possible and that the system will do what it’s supposed to do, which goes back to trusting the system.”

Springs’ work didn’t always involve life-or-death situations. She majored in apparel and textile management at N.C. State University. Once she started working in the industry, she made an unexpected discovery: “I didn’t like it too much.”

What she did find interesting, though, was the work the industrial engineers were doing.

The decision to come to A&T for her masters and Ph.D. degrees in industrial engineering was an easy one. “I knew that A&T had a great engineering program, and I’m from Winston-Salem, so it was close.”

One of the highlights of Springs’ job today is getting input directly from the end users of the systems she works on. They’re grateful for her work and happy to give her their insights into her current work.

“I actually get to work with the military men and women and see and hear what their jobs are like. And the more I talk to them the more impressed I become.

“It’s a good feeling to know that what I’m doing is making their job or life better, more efficient.”

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