Esa Rantanen
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts
585-475-4412
Office Hours
Mondays and Fridays 1000???1100
Office Location
Esa Rantanen
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts
Education
BS, MS, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; MS, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Bio
Professor Rantanen trained as an airline pilot and worked as an air traffic controller before going back to school and into an academic career. Before joining the psychology faculty at RIT in 2007, Professor Rantanen was in the faculty of Institute of Aviation of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Professor Rantanen teaches the PSYC 642 Graduate Research Methods, PSYC 714 Graduate Engineering Psychology, and PSYC 234 Industrial and Organizational Psychology courses.
Professor Rantanen's theoretical research interests lie in the areas of human factors in complex and dynamic systems, human performance measurement and modeling, mental workload, decision making, and human error and reliability. His primary research focus is on the role of time and temporal mental models in human performance. Professor Rantanen is currently pursuing research in three applied domains: Air traffic control (air traffic controllers' situation awareness), healthcare (human error in medicine), and process control (control room displays).
Professor Rantanen is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES; since 1993), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society; since 1997), and Association for Aviation Psychology (AAP; since 1999). He serves in the editorial boards of journals 'Human Factors' and 'International Journal of Aviation Psychology'.
Select Scholarship
Journal Paper
Lintern, Gavan, et al. "Rapid Development of a Hospital Checklist in a Time of COVID-19." Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications. (2020): 1064804620963687. Web.
Oksama, Lauri, Jukka Hyönä, and Esa Rantanen. "Tracking the Identity of Moving Words: Stimulus Complexity and Familiarity Affects Tracking Accuracy." Applied Cognitive Psychology 34. 1 (2020): 64-77. Print.
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Eye Contact and Video-Mediated Communication: A Review." Displays 34. 2 (2015): 177--185. Print.
Rantanen, Esa, et al. "Archival Human Factors Jobs Database as a Tool for Tracking Trends in Skills and Knowledge Expectations in the Labor Market." Proceedings of The 57th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 57. 1 (2013): 457-461. Print.
Rantanen, Esa, et al. "Practicing Relevant Skills in the Classroom: Advice From Experts in the Industry to Professors." Proceedings of The International Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 57. 1 (2013): 443-446. Print.
Rantanen, Esa and Christopher Wickens. "Conflict Resolution Maneuvers in Air Traffic Control: Investigation of Operational Data." International Journal of Aviation Psychology 22. 3 (2012): 266-281. Print.
Bohannon, Leanne S., et al. "Eye Contact and Video-mediated Communication: A Review." Displays. (2012) Print.
Rantanen, E.M. "Conflict Resolution Maneuvers in Air Traffic Control: Investigation of Operational Data." The International Journal of Aviation Psychology 22. 3 (2012): 266-281. Print.
Rantanen, E.M. "Eye Contact and Video-Mediated Communication: A Review." Displays. (2012): Online. Web.
Stankovic, Stephanie, et al. "Individual Differences in the Effect of Vertical Separation on Conflict Detection in Air Traffic Control." International Journal of Aviation Psychology 21. 4 (2011): 325-342. Print.
Invited Paper
Rantanen, E. M. "Provost’s Learning Innovation Grant (PLIG) for 2019." RIT/PSY/TR–20/1 Final Technical Report. (2020). Web.
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Jointly Offered Online Course Between Malmö University and Rochester Institute of Technology on Industrial and Organizational Psychology." RIT/PSY/TR–17/1 Final Technical Report. (2017). Web.
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Improving Operator Situational Awareness with Wide Area Geographic Data View Displays of the Electric Power Grid." RIT/PSY/TR–15/1 Final Technical Report. (2017). Web.
Published Conference Proceedings
Buck, Ashley and Esa M. Rantanen. "Multiple Identity Tracking and Motion Extrapolation." Proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology, Dayton, OH, May 7–10, 2019. Ed. Michael Vidulich and Pamela Tsang. Dayton, OH: n.p., Print.
Hannon, Daniel, et al. "A Human Factors Engineering Education Perspective on Data Science, Machine Learning and Automation." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2019 Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, October 28–November 2, 2019. Ed. HFES. Washington, DC: SAGE Publications, Print.
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Data Properties Underlying Human Monitoring Performance." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2017 Annual Meeting. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications, 2017. Web.
Hingu, Dharmendra Praving, et al. "A Software Tool for Cognitive Work Analysis." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2017 Annual Meeting. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications, 2017. Web.
Umansky, Jonathan and Esa M. Rantanen. "Workload in Nursing." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2016 Annual Meeting. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications, 2016. Web.
Rantanen, Esa M. "Trends in Knowledge and Skill Expectations for New Human Factors Professionals." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2016 Annual Meeting. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications, 2016. Web.
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Education of Future Human Factors Professionals." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2016 Annual Meeting,. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: SAGE Publications, 2016. Web.
Wiele, Paul and Esa M. Rantanen. "Incident-reporting Systems: Usability of Input Interfaces and Resulting Data." Proceedings of the International Symposium of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare, Baltimore, MD, April 26—29, 2015. Ed. NA. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Web.
Nalbandian, Alexander and Esa M. Rantanen. "Learning of Location-identity Bindings: Development of Level 1 Situation Awareness in an Air Traffic Control-like Task." Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. Ed. NA. Dayton, OH: Association for Aviation Psychology, Web.
Rantanen, E.M., L. Hochberg, and R. S. Johar. "Linguistic Analysis of Archival Human Factors Jobs Data." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Ed. Unknown. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014. Print.
Rantanen, E. M., et al. "Towards Automatic Annotation of Clinical Decision-making Style." Proceedings of the 8th Linguistic Annotation Workshop at the 25th International Conference on Computational Linguistics. Ed. Unknown. Dublin, Ireland: International Committee on Computational Linguistics, 2014. Print.
Rantanen, E.M., et al. "Decision Style in a Clinical Reasoning Corpus." Proceedings of the BioNLP Workshop. Ed. Unknown. Baltimore, MD: Association for Computational Linguistics, 2014. Print.
Rantanen, E.M., et al. "Usability of Human Factors Research in Design: Advice From Users of Science to Producers of Science." Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Ed. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014. Print.
Rantanen, E.M. and A.s. Swaminathan. "Usability of Human Factors Standards." Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Ed. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014. Print.
Rantanen, Esa and William Moroney. "Employers' Expectations for Education and Skills of New Human Factors/Ergonomics Professionals." Proceedings of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Boston, MA, October 22-26, 2012. Ed. HFES. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2012. Print.
Moroney, William and Esa Rantanen. "Student Perceptions of their Educational and Skill Needs in the Workplace." Proceedings of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Boston, MA, October 22-26, 2012. Ed. HFES. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2012. Print.
Rantanen, Esa, et al. "Analysis of Hospital Oncology Department Pharmacy." Proceedings of the Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Bridging the Gap, Baltimore, MD, March 12-14, 2012. Ed. HFES. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2012. Web.
Deeter, Joe and Esa Rantanen. "Human Reliability Analysis in Healthcare." Proceedings of the Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Bridging the Gap, Baltimore, MD, March 12-14, 2012. Ed. HFES. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2012. Web.
Rantanen, E.M. and W.F. Moroney. "Employers' Expectations for Education and Skills of New Human Factors/Ergonomics Professionals." Proceedings of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Santa Monica, CA: n.p., 2012. Print.
Rantanen, E.M. and W.F. Moroney. "Student Perceptions of Their Educational and Skill Needs in the Workplace." Proceedings of the 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Santa Monica, CA: n.p., 2012. Print.
Rantanen, E.M. "Analysis of Hospital Oncology Department Pharmacy Operations." Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Bridging the Gap. Santa Monica, CA: n.p., Print.
Rantanen, E.M. "Human Reliability Analysis in Healthcare." Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Bridging the Gap. Santa Monica, CA: n.p., Print.
Rantanen, E. M. and W. F. Moroney. "Educational and Skill Needs for New Human Factors/Ergonomics Professionals." Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Las Vegas, NV, September 19-23, 2011. Ed. HFES. Santa Monica, CA: n.p., 2011. Print.
Rantanen, E. M. and J. L. Smagner. "User Experience with Cybercollaboration Technologies." Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Santa Monica, CA: HFES, 2011. Print.
Peer Reviewed/Juried Poster Presentation or Conference Paper
Montoya, Juanita and Esa M. Rantanen. "Psychosocial Aspects of Workload in Nursing." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2019 Health Care Symposium. Chicago, IL, March 25, 2019. Ed. HFES. Washington, DC: n.p..
Kulomäki, Jaakko, et al. "Individual Differences in Attention Allocation in Multitasking: An Eye-Tracking Study." Proceedings of the Psychonomic Society 58th Annual Meeting. Ed. NA. Vancouver, BC: Psychonomic Society.
Kulomäki, Jaakko, et al. "The Role of Central Cxecutive in Alternating Multitask Situations." Proceedings of the International Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Ed. NA. Granada, Spain: n.p..
Invited Article/Publication
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Improving Operator Situation Awareness by Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) Data Visualization." RIT/PSY/TR–18/1 Final Technical Report. (2018). Web.
Book Chapter
Rantanen, Esa M., et al. "Practitioner operational challenges and priorities." Advances in Aviation Psychology. Ed. Michael A. Vidulich, Pamela S. Tsang, and John M. Flach. New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. 39-54. Print.
Rantanen, Esa. "Human Factors Validation of NextGen Technologies and Procedures." Advances in Human Aspects of Aviation (Advances in Human Factors and Ergonomics Series). Ed. Steven Landry. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012. 341-350. Print.
Histon, Jonathan, Esa Rantanen, and Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm. "Air Traffic Control Voice Data Analysis to Validate NextGen Procedures." Advances in Human Aspects of Aviation (Advances in Human Factors and Ergonomics Series). Ed. Steven Landry. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012. 129-138. Print.
Rantanen, E.M. "Human Factors Validation of NextGen Technologies and Procedures." Advances in Human Aspects of Aviation. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012. 341-350. Print.
Rantanen, E.M., C. Alm, and J. Histon. "Air Traffic Control Voice Data Analysis to Validate NextGen Procedures." Advances in Human Aspects of Aviation. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012. 129-138. Print.
Invited Keynote/Presentation
Rantanen, Esa M. "Application of Cognitive Work Analysis to Map Nurses' Workload in a Hospital Setting." A WebEx meeting presentation for the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Washington, DC. 2 Nov. 2016. Guest Lecture.
Rantanen, Esa M. "Improving Operator Situation Awareness with Wide Area Geographic Data View Displays of the Electric Grid." New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) Seminar Series. New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). Rensselaer, NY. 23 Apr. 2015. Guest Lecture.
Rantanen, Esa M. "Human Factors, Multitask Performance, and Temporal Awareness." Finnish Defence Research Agency, Human Performance Division Seminar. Finnish Defence Research Agency, Human Performance Division. Järvenpää, Finland, FIN. 10 Aug. 2015. Guest Lecture.
Rantanen, E. "Linguistic Analysis of Clinical Communications: A Novel Method for Study of Diagnostic Errors." HFES International Symposium of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare. HFES International Symposium of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare. Chicago, IL. 18 Mar. 2014. Conference Presentation.
Rantanen, E. "Measurement and Modeling of Human Performance in Operational Contexts." Third Annual Joint Mini Conference of the Upstate Chapters of the American Statistical Association. Upstate Chapters of the American Statistical Association. Geneseo, NY. 12 Apr. 2014. Conference Presentation.
Histon, J., Esa Rantanen, and Alm. "Communication Sequences in Controller-pilot Communications." Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology. Wright State University. Dayton, OH. 9 May 2013. Conference Presentation.
Nystrom, D. T., Esa M. Rantanen, and G. Lintern. "Stress in Medical Residency: Cognitive Work Analysis and A Literature Review." 2013 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care: Advancing the Cause. Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Santa Monica, CA. 12 Mar. 2013. Conference Presentation.
Rantanen, Esa. "Situation Awareness and Other Cross-Domain Constructs: Lessons Learned from 110 Years of Aviation Human Factors Research." at PNNL Future Power Grid Initiative 2nd Workshop on Challenges in Next-Generation Analytics for the Future Power Grid. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Seattle, WA. 19 Sep. 2013. Conference Presentation.
Published Article
Yang, Jiazhong, Esa M. Rantanen, and Kan Zhang. “The impact of time efficacy on air traffic controller situation awareness and mental workload.” International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 20.1 (2010): 74-91. Print. *
Rantanen, E. M., and C. D. Wickens. “Are there standard conflict resolution maneuvers in air traffic control?” Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010. 45-49. Print. *
Chung, Chnogyoon, and Esa M. Rantanen. “Gestural interaction with In-Vehicle Audio and Climate Controls.” Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010. 1406-1410. Print. " *
Hope, Ryan M., Esa M. Rantanen, and Lauri Oksama. “Multiple Identity Tracking and Entropy in an ATC-like Task.” Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010.1012-1016. Print. " *
Currently Teaching
IDAI-720
Research Methods for Artificial Intelligence
3 Credits
Hallmarks of AI are systems that perform human-like behaviors, and AI systems rely on continuous preparation and deployment of data resources as new tasks emerge. In this course, students develop their conceptual, applied, and critical understanding about (1) experimental principles and methods guiding the collection, validation, and deployment of human data resources for AI systems; (2) human-centered AI concepts and techniques including dataset bias, debiasing, AI fairness, humans-in-the loop methods, explainable AI, trust), and (3) best practices for technical writing and presentation about AI. As a milestone, based on research review, students will write and present an experimental design proposal for dataset elicitation followed by computational experimentation, with description and visualization of the intended experiment setup, as well as critical reflection of benefits, limitations, and implications in the context of AI system development and deployment.
ISEE-734
Graduate Engineering Psychology
3 Credits
In this course the students will learn to recognize the integrated (systems) nature of Engineering Psychology, the centrality of human beings in systems design, and to use the topics covered and the available knowledge base to adapt the environment to people. This course will cover several fundamental models of human information processing in the context of human-system interactions. The models may include but are not limited to Signal Detection Theory, Information Theory, theories of attention, both normative and naturalistic decision making-models, Control Theory, and the Lens Model of Brunswick, as well as models of the human as a physical engine, that is, anthropometry, biomechanics, and work physiology. Most topics include readings in addition to the course text as well as a lab exercise with a detailed lab report.
PSYC-234
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
3 Credits
Industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology is a branch of applied psychology that is concerned with efficient management of an industrial labor force and especially with problems encountered by workers in a mechanized environment. Specific areas include job analysis, defining and measuring job performance, performance appraisal, tests, employment interviews, employee selection and training, and human factors. This course covers the basic principles of the above areas as well as applications of current research in I/O psychology.
PSYC-251
Research Methods II
3 Credits
This course will serve as an advanced research methods course in psychology, and will build on the foundational knowledge presented in Research Methods I. Topics and tasks for this course include designing single and multi-factor experiments, interpreting correlational research, completing statistical analyses appropriate to design, completing and analyzing an IRB application, understanding observational and survey research, and presenting results in APA style. This is a required course for all psychology majors, and is restricted to students in the psychology program.
PSYC-510
Senior Project in Psychology
3 Credits
This course is intended for students in the psychology major to demonstrate experimental research expertise, while being guided by faculty advisors. The topic to be studied is up to the student, who must find a faculty advisor before signing up for the course. Students will be supervised by the advisor as they conduct their literature review, develop the research question or hypothesis, develop the study methodology and materials, construct all necessary IRB materials, run subjects, and analyze the results of their study. This course will culminate in an APA style paper and poster presentation reporting the results of the research. Because Senior Project is the culmination of a student’s scientific research learning experience in the psychology major, it is expected that the project will be somewhat novel, will extend the theoretical understanding of their previous work (or of the previous work of another researcher), and go well beyond any similar projects that they might have done in any of their previous courses.
PSYC-714
Graduate Engineering Psychology
3 Credits
In this course the students will learn to recognize the integrated (systems) nature of Engineering Psychology, the centrality of human beings in systems design, and to use the topics covered and the available knowledge base to adapt the environment to people. This course will cover several fundamental models of human information processing in the context of human-system interactions. The models may include but are not limited to Signal Detection Theory, Information Theory, theories of attention, both normative and naturalistic decision-making models, Control Theory, and the Lens Model of Brunswick, as well as models of the human as a physical engine, that is, anthropometry, biomechanics, and work physiology. Most topics include readings in addition to the course text as well as a lab exercise with a detailed lab report.
PSYC-719
Human Factors in Artificial Intelligence
1 Credits
This course will provide students with fundamental information for human-centered design of applications of artificial intelligence. There are three parts to the course: The first part is about methods of design and evaluation. The second part introduces students to the psychology of sensation and perception, memory,
attention, judgment, decision-making, and problem solving, as well as human error and reliability. Finally, students will become familiar with design principles as they apply to displays and controls, human-computer interaction, human-automation interaction, and human-centered automation. Guest lectures and case studies will be examined to illustrate topics covered in it and to provide a survey of the current state of AI research, development, and controversies. Ethics and moral responsibility in technology development, with links to current policy debates, are also discussed in this context.