Applied Cognitive Ergonomics Lab

Testing the Boundaries of Innovation

Changwon Son

Changwon Son is a Ph.D. candidate and graduate research assistant in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. His primary research interest is investigating Resilience Engineering (RE) in complex socio-technical systems including emergency management, oil and gas industries, and healthcare sectors. RE provides a new paradigm for safety and human factors in solving challenging problems by looking at dynamic interplay among cognitive systems components such as human operators, and technical tools. Changwon received his master’s degree in Safety Engineering from Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, the pioneer of process safety. Before enrolling in graduate school, Changwon worked for Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipyard, as an HSE (health, safety, environment) manager for multiple shipbuilding and offshore projects. His hobbies include playing sports, playing guitar, and fixing things. Changwon can perform Talchum, a traditional Korean Mask Dance and has shown it to elementary school children in local areas.

Education & Work

Education

  • Ph.D., Industrial and Systems EngineeringTexas A&M University, College Station, TX Aug. 2016 — May. 2021 (anticipated)
  • M.S., Safety Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Aug. 2014—Aug. 2016
  • B.S., Industrial Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea Mar. 2000—Dec. 2007

Work Experience

  • Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants, Engineering Co-op, Jun. 2015—Dec.2015
  • Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Project HSE Manager, Jan. 2008—Jul. 2014

Portfolio

  • As a member of ACE Lab, I have developed “Interaction Episode Analysis (IEA)”, an analytical method for complex team interactions. The IEA has been applied to naturalistic incident management teams trained at Emergency Operations Training Center. To ease data entry, visualization, and analysis, a Web-based IEA Tool (WIEAT) is currently under development.

Awards & Honors

  • Student with Honors Award, HFES, 2020
  • Emerging Leader, HFES, 2020
  • Best Student Paper, HFES Safety TG, 2020
  • Student Competition Winner, Resilience Week, 2019
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, TAMU, 2018
  • Texas Safety Foundations Steve Halliburton HSE Scholarship, 2018
  • Graduate Student Research and Presentation Travel Award, TAMU, 2018
  • Young Talent, Resilience Engineering Association, 2017

Research

  • Biofeedback for Student Veterans’ Mental Health (PI: Farzan Sasangohar)
  • Impact of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health (PI: Farzan Sasangohar)
  • NSF EAGER Grant: ‘Humans, Teams, and Technologies: Human-Team and Team-Machine Interaction in Emergency Response’ (PI: S. Camille Peres, Co-PI: Farzan Sasangohar)
  • Next Generation Advanced Procedures (NGAP) Initiative (PI: S. Camille Peres, Co-PI: Farzan Sasangohar)
  • NASEM Grant: ‘EMPOWER Safety Dashboard’ (PIs: Stephanie Payne, Ranjana Mehta, Farzan Sasangohar)

Selected Publications

  • Son, C., Hegde, S., Smith, A., Wang, X., Sasangohar, F. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on College Students Mental Health in the US: An Interview-survey Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/21279
  • Son, C., Sasangohar, F., Peres, S.C., Moon, J. (2020). Muddling through Troubled Water: Elements of Resilient Performance of Incident Management Teams during Hurricane Harvey. Ergonomics. DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2020.1752820
  • Son, C., Larsen, E.P., Sasangohar, F., Peres, S.C. (2020). Opportunities and challenges for resilient hospital incident management: Case study of a hospital’s response to Hurricane Harvey. Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy. DOI: 10.18278/jcip.1.1.7
  • Son, C., Sasangohar, F., Peres, S.C., Neville, T.J., Moon, J. (2020). Investigating Resilience in Emergency Management: An Integrative Review of Literature. Applied Ergonomics. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103114
  • Son, C., Sasangohar, F., Peres, S.C., Neville, T.J., Moon, J. (2020). Evaluation of Work-as-Done in Information Management of Multidisciplinary Incident Management Team via Interaction Episode Analysis. Applied Ergonomics, 84, 103031. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.103031.
  • Son, C., Sasangohar, F., Rao, A., Larsen, E.P. (2019). Resilient Performance of Emergency Department: Patterns, Models and Strategies. Safety Science, 120, 362-373. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2019.07.010
  • Son, C., Sasangohar, F., Peres, S.C., Neville, T.J., Moon, J., & Mannan, M.S. (2018). Modeling an Incident Management Team as a Joint Cognitive System. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 56, 231-241. DOI: 10.1016/j.jlp.2018.07.021