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Division Head: Sharla Rausch
The S&T Human Factors Division looks at biometrics, motivation and intent, suspicious behavior detection, human factors engineering, public perception information and the social/behavioral/economic sciences to improve detection, analysis, and understanding and prevention of threats posed by individuals, groups, and radical movements. The efforts of this division support the preparedness, response, and recovery of communities affected by catastrophic events.
Community Preparedness, Response and Recovery Program
Enhancing Public Response and Community Resilience Project
Project Manager: Michael Dunaway
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Enhancing Public Response and Community Resilience project examines public needs (shelter, food, disaster relief, etc.) that arose during the evacuation from southern Texas during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in order to enhance Federal, State, local and private sector response to future catastrophic events. The goal is to capture and communicate lessons learned to enhance Federal, State, local and private sector responses to future catastrophic events.Risk Perception, Public Trust, and Communication Project
Project Manager: Michael Dunaway
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Risk Perception, Public Trust, and Communication project establishes statistical baselines to improve communications with the public during catastrophic events. Activities include evaluating the effects of particular risk communication messages on the public’s understanding, trust in, and response to official communications during the Top Officials (TOPOFF) practical exercises.Social Network Analysis for Community Resilience Project
Project Manager: Michael Dunaway
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Social Network Analysis for Community Resilience project develops a modeling capability for identifying formal and informal social networks that may be useful in enhancing preparedness and community resilience to natural disasters and terrorist events. This effort will leverage Social Network Analysis research for understanding terrorist networks, social and financial transactions, and the spread of infectious diseases, and apply that knowledge to the construction of networks dedicated to strengthening local response capabilities and preparedness. It will also leverage past and on-going work from the Department of Defense (DOD) and other agencies.Muslim Community Integration Project
Project Manager: Allison Smith, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Muslim Community Integration project conducts ethnographic research to examine the experiences of Muslims and non-Muslims in several communities throughout the U.S. The project will provide insights into the current state of Muslim communities focusing on their role and status in America and their perceptions of American society.
Motivation and Intent Program
Violent Intent Modeling and Simulation Project
Project Manager: Jennifer O’Connor, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Violent Intent Modeling and Simulation project develops intelligence analysis frameworks, including extraction of terrorist intention signatures, systematic estimation of future terrorist behavior based on social and behavioral sciences, and modeling and simulations of future terrorist behavior influences. It identifies leading edge social science modeling and simulation technologies and advances social science modeling and data fusion capabilities in such areas as hybrids of neural nets, structural equations, genetic algorithms, social networks, etc.
Suspicious Behavior Detection Program
Hostile Intent Detection - Validation Project
Project Manager: Larry Willis
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Hostile Intent Detection – Validation project provides cross-cultural validation of behavioral indicators employed by DHS’s operational components to screen passengers at air, land, and maritime ports. The project will integrate these validated behavioral indicators into the screening curriculum of each component’s existing training program.Hostile Intent Detection – Automated Prototype Project
Project Manager: Larry Willis
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Hostile Intent Detection - Automated Prototype project demonstrates real-time automated intent detection using non-invasive and culturally neutral behavioral indicators. S&T will transition the automated hostile intent prototype to the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Hostile Intent Detection – Training & Simulation Project
Project Manager: Larry Willis
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Hostile Intent Detection – Training and Simulation project develops computer-based simulation to train behavior-based stand-off detection for future hostile intent using indicators from the interactive screening environment (Hostile Intent Detection – Automated Prototype) and the observational environment (Hostile Intent Detection – Validation) to support screening and interviewing interactions at air, land, and maritime portals.Insider Threat Detection Project
Project Manager: Patty Wolfhope
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Insider Threat Detection project will detect insider behavior that is likely to present or lead to a threat to critical infrastructure using behavioral indicators. DHS will collaborate with other U.S. agencies and international partners to move beyond the current focus on responses to accomplished hostile insider acts, and begin developing a greater capacity to deter and detect insider threats before substantial harm has been done. The immediate operational goal is to produce new and better tools to identify behavior patterns and characteristics identifiable before, during, and after employment that are associated with insider threats.
Biometrics Program
Multi-modal Biometrics Project
Project Manager: Arun Vemury
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Multi-modal Biometrics project develops biometric technologies that accurately and rapidly identify individuals. The operational goal is to provide the capability to non-intrusively collect two or more biometrics (fingerprint, face image, and iris recognition) in less than 10 seconds at a 95% acquisition rate without impeding the movement of individuals. The multi-modal technology will allow DHS to compare and match biometric samples from different sources, collected with different sensor technologies, under varying environmental conditions -- a capability that eludes existing technology.Mobile Biometrics System Project
Project Manager: Christopher Miles
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Mobile Biometrics project develops prototype technologies for mobile biometrics screening at remote sites along U.S. borders, during disasters and terrorist incidents, at sea, and in other places where communications access is limited. The goal is to demonstrate mobile biometrics screening capabilities and technologies that meet the future needs of DHS Operational users, but currently are not available with conventional biometrics systems.
Credentialing Program
Credentialing Project
Project Manager: Arun Vemury
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Credentialing project develops tamper-proof credentialing systems that incorporate biometric information; such as a biometrics-based card-and-reader system. The project developed a laboratory test and evaluation protocol for the transportation worker identification card (TWIC) reader and plans to initiate research and design activities to improve the range and reliability of secure contactless technologies.Commercial Data Sources Project
Project Manager: Christopher Miles
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Commercial Data Sources project will quantitatively assess the utility of commercial data sources to augment governmentally available information about people, foreign and domestic, being screened, investigated, or vetted by the DHS. The use of commercial data sources may provide a valuable source of corroborating information to ensure that an individual’s identity and eligibility for a particular license, privilege, or status is correctly evaluated during screening.
Human Systems Research and Engineering Program
Human Systems Engineering Project
Project Manager: Darren P. Wilson and Janae Lockett-Reynolds, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Science Division project develops, demonstrates and evaluates a standardized process for implementing human systems integration. It will focus on defining human performance requirements in the development of systems and technology, and on methods and measures needed to evaluate existing technology in terms of human performance requirements. This effort also will result in greater understanding of the needs of the various DHS end-user communities, as well as developing tools to best identify how to recruit, select, train, support, and retain operational staff. A systematic approach based on the integration of the human component will lead to enhanced system design, safety, efficiency, and operational performance.Human Systems Research Project
Project Manager: Janae Lockett-Reynolds, Ph.D. and Darren P. Wilson
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Science Division projects examine human perception and ability to detect targets and threats as they pertain to the design of systems that maximize human performance, and the effectiveness of the technology operators use in the field. Results of this research allow the program to focus more closely on the psychological determiners that impact successful discrimination of threats and reduce false alarms. In addition to focusing on human perception, the program will also address how humans process information and how that impacts the human-machine interface.
Technology Acceptance and Integration Program
Community Perceptions of Technology Panel Project
Project Manager: Ji Sun Lee
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Science Division Community Perceptions of Technology Panel (CPT) project brings together representatives of industry, public interest, and community-oriented organizations to better understand and integrate community perspectives and concerns in the development, deployment, and public acceptance of technology. This will yield feedback to aid ongoing technology and process development and strategies to accurately inform the public of new approaches to securing the homeland. This is designed to better ensure acceptance of the technology within affected communities.
Transportation Technology-Human Integration Program
Enhanced Screener-Technology Interface Project
Project Manager: Josh Rubinstein, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Human Factors Division Enhanced Screener-Technology Interface project characterizes screener-performance issues, proposes new screener technologies and procedures, and develops training curricula to optimize security effectiveness and reduce human fatigue and injury, while reducing training requirements and overall cost.
Deter Program
Counter-IED Actionable Indicators Project
Project Manager: Allison Smith, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Counter-Improvised Explosives Devices Counter-IED Actionable Indicators project supports the intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying actors that pose significant IED threats in the U.S. homeland. This project will provide practical tools through the synthesis of state-of-the-art social and behavioral science databases, case studies, surveys, and fieldwork and advanced computational modeling, simulation, and visualization technologies.Counter-IED Tested Countermeasures Project
Project Manager: Allison Smith, Ph.D.
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Counter-Improvised Explosives Devices Counter-IED Tested Countermeasures project aims to provide policymakers with scientifically tested strategies to prevent radicalization and IED attacks before they occur. This project examines how social and behavioral science principles can support the development of counter-radicalization efforts and will use advanced computational modeling, simulation, and visualization technologies to test scenarios and present relevant findings.
Predict Program
Predictive Screening Project
Project Manager: Larry Willis
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Counter-Improvised Explosives Devices Predictive Screening project will derive observable behaviors that precede a suicide bombing attack and develop extraction algorithms to identify and alert personnel to indicators of suicide bombing behavior.Risk Prediction Project
Project Manager: Larry Willis
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate Counter-Improvised Explosives Devices Risk Prediction project will develop high speed software to identify IED target and staging areas based upon group- and cultural- specific tactics, techniques, and procedures derived from past foreign attacks. The goal is to use this information to prioritize the risk of likely potential targets of IED attacks within the United States.
Innovations Portfolio (Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency Program)
Homeland Innovation Prototypical Solutions
Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) Project
Project Manager: Bob Burns
Project Overview: The Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA) and S&T Directorate Human Factors Behavior Sciences Division Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) Project is an initiative to develop innovative, non-invasive technologies to screen people at security checkpoints. FAST is grounded in research on human behavior and psychophysiology, focusing on new advances in behavioral/human-centered screening techniques. The aim is a prototypical mobile suite (FAST M2) that would be used to increase the accuracy and validity of identifying persons with malintent (the intent or desire to cause harm). Identified individuals would then be directed to secondary screening, which would be conducted by authorized personnel.High Impact Technological Solution
Biometric Detector Project
Project Manager: Arun Vemury
Project Overview: The S&T Directorate High Impact Technological Solutions (HITS) project executed by the Human Factors Behavior Science Division will provide efficient, high quality, contact less acquisition of fingerprint biometric signatures for identity management. This will result in significantly improved throughput and signal quality, thereby improving recognition and reducing false positive rates. The goal is to develop a fingerprint acquisition device that can be transitioned for implementation across DHS components.
Email: S&T-HumanFactors@dhs.gov
This page was last reviewed/modified on September 16, 2008.
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