How to Account for Human Error in Design: Dr. Monifa Vaughn- Cooke

 In April, I attended a series of virtual events sponsored by the nonprofit STEM for Her which aims to provide opportunities for girls to expand on their interest in STEM. GEM (Girls Empowered by Math) hunt was a program that introduced me to women in different STEM professions whose work centers around mathematics.

I attended GEM Hunt day one on human error and reliability with mechanical engineer Dr. Monifa Vaughn-Cooke. Her presentation centered around the countless different factors tied to the success of a solution. Finding these factors has applications in many systems, such as defense systems and health systems. She explained how she and her team can test these different factors through various fascinating methods such as a "virtual reality cave". An example of this technology being put to use in her work was simulating the conditions of a crowded patient response room. She discussed factors that play a role in the worker's performance, most notably visual and noise distractions. For example, it was difficult for the workers to differentiate between a beep from the system, indicating that a patient is in need, and a beep from a printer. With these conditions simulated in the virtual reality cave, she and her team were able to begin looking into each of these factors in order to find a solution that will help mitigate each of the adverse effects tied to them. Next, she discussed another health-related application of what she does, which involved a doctor issuing a medical device for their patient to use. We were put into groups and tasked with coming up with a list of 10-15 potential factors, ranging from personal patient and doctor factors to device design factors. My group came up with more than 15, with each idea stemming from the last. Some of the most notable ideas we came up with were how clear the instructions were, how simple it was to use the device, and how compact/portable it was. The event ended off with each group's list being compiled into one and discussing the overall significance of these factors.

The event provided me with deeper insight into the different aspects of the design process and the engineering profession. It emphasized the importance of accessing a wide range of factors from several categories considering how each of these variables will impact the solution, both individually and together as a whole. I learned that many of these factors stem from the goal of curtailing human error in order to create a more reliable system. This was highlighted especially when Dr. Vaughn-Cooke showed the crowded hospital call room and began to point out and dig deeper into the characteristics of the workplace impacting the workers' performance, and reliability of the hospital's system that I hadn't initially noticed. Further, I had never known that technology like a "virtual reality cave" had even existed, and I was fascinated by the extent to which it could simulate such a wide range of conditions. Dr. Vaughn- Cooke also discussed the process behind formulating a system of a customer purchasing a CPAP mask at a pharmacy. Using the "virtual reality cave" paired with an impressive technology that captures a person's emotion at a given moment through sensing face muscle movement and even pupil dilation to assess factors like whether the customer understands instructions listed on the mask. Overall, this event provided so much insight into finding and evaluating various factors contributing to the reliability of a device or even an entire system, perhaps one of the most critical parts of the engineering design process that I had previously overlooked. Additionally, I learned about new technologies that are being used to compile data on each factor.

The new knowledge I gained from attending this event can be applied to various areas in school, especially in my STEM-related classes. Thoroughly assessing a system's design to find any factors that may contribute to decreasing its overall reliability is a skill that can be used in revising the system or creating a new but similar one. Right now in my engineering class, I am working on a project that involves determining the best type of material to use for a particular product. Though it is on a smaller scale than a computer system like the ones Dr. Vaughn-Cooke worked on, I will be paying more attention to the factors linked with limiting human error, which are often quite simple. For example, a particular color or weight of the product's material may evoke a positive reaction from the person using it. Looking into the effects of each of these factors individually as well as collectively will give me a better idea of what type of material would work best to maximize the reliability of the product as a whole. This type of thought process would be beneficial to me down the road in a STEM career because human error is universal, in that it will always be present and have effects on everything that I do. Dr. Vaughn-Cooke emphasized that it will always be a critical factor of solutions in areas of system reliability, whether it is complex like a hospital computer network or simple like the act of an individual purchasing a product.