Chief Scientist

Jean MacMillan is a leading expert in understanding, maximizing, and assessing human performance in complex sociotechnical systems. Her 25-year career has spanned a broad range of accomplishments in simulation-based training, human-machine interaction, and user-centered system design.

Dr. MacMillan’s current research focuses on methods to increase the effectiveness of simulation-based training by linking training objectives to scenario design elements and performance measures. She recently led projects to develop reliable and valid performance measures for teams of F-16 pilots training in a distributed simulation facility and to design synthetic entities that function as team members for simulation-based training of teamwork skills.

Prior to joining Aptima in 1997, Dr. MacMillan was a Senior Scientist at BBN Technologies and a Senior Cognitive Systems Engineer at Alphatech (now BAE Systems). She is a frequent contributor and strategic advisor to workshops and expert panels on human engineering issues for organizations such as DARPA and the military services. Dr. MacMillan recently co-chaired a three-year National Research Council study on military needs for social and organizational models, which resulted in the publication of Behavioral Modeling and Simulation: From Individuals to Societies.

Dr. MacMillan holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Harvard University. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, and is Associate Editor for Cognitive Systems Engineering for the on-line journal Cognitive Technology.

Publications

MacMillan, J., Freeman, J., Stacy, W., Wiese, E., Ayers, J., & Geyer, A. (in press) Adaptive training in virtual environments. Warfighter Enhancement Activities, 3, 12.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. B., Morley, R., & Bennett, W. (in press). Measuring team performance in complex dynamic environments: The SPOTLITE method. Military Psychology.

MacMillan J., Stacy, W., & Freeman, J. (2011). The design of synthetic experiences for effective training: Challenges for DMO. Tampa, FL: Taylor & Francis.

MacMillan, J., Zacharias, G., Freeman, J., & Bullock, B. (2011). Strategic roadmap for human social, cultural, and behavioral science and technology. HSCB Focus 2011, 8-10 February 2011, Chantilly, VA.

Seibert, M. K., Diedrich, F.J., MacMillan, J., & Riccio, G. E. (2010). Training research in the wild. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Orlando, FL.

Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Levchuk, G., Grande, D., Skarin, B., & Paley, M. (2009) Computational models of social systems: Red, green, & blue. West Point Global Leadership Conference. West Point, NY. March 25-27, 2009.

Freeman, J., Stacy, W., MacMillan, J., Carlin, A., & Levchuk, G. (2009). Capturing and building adaptive expertise in virtual worlds. Proceedings of Human Computer Interaction International 2009. San Diego, CA, 19-24 July 2009.

MacMillan, J., Freeman, J., Stacy, W., Wiese, E., Ayers, J., & Geyer, A. (2009). Aiding in assessments. WEPO Newsletter. Orlando, University of Central Florida. Special Edition, November 2009.

Zacharias, G.L., MacMillan, J., & Van Hemel, S.B. (Eds.) (2008). Behavioral Modeling and Simulation: From Individuals to Societies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Haimson, C., Weil, S., Stacy, W., & Diedrich, F.J. (2006).From gaming to training. Proceedings of the Society for Applied Learning Technologies, Orlando, FL.

Weil, S. A., Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Jackson, C., Mauer, E., Patterson, M., & Linegang, M. P. (2006). Designing of a multi-vehicle control system: System design, team composition, and user interaction. In N. J., Cooke, et. al. (Eds.), Advances in human performance and cognitive engineering research: Human factors of remotely piloted vehicles. New York, NY: JAI Press.

Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Haimson, C., Weil, S., Stacy, W., & Diedrich, F. J. (2006). Strategies and studies in game-based training. Proceedings of the Society for Applied Learning Technologies, Orlando, FL.

Lai, F., MacMillan, J., Daudelin, D. H., & Kent, D. (2006). The potential of training to increase acceptance and use of computerized decision support systems for medical diagnosis. Human Factors, 48, 95-108.

Diedrich, F. J., Freeman, J., Entin, E. E., Weil, S. A., & MacMillan, J. (2005). Modeling, measuring, and improving cognition at the team level. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Augmented Cognition, Las Vegas, NV.

MacMillan, J., Diedrich, F. J., Entin, E. E., & Serfaty, D. (2005). How well did it work? Measuring organizational performance in simulation environments. In W. B. Rouse & K. R. Boff (Eds.), Organizational simulation (pp. 253-272). New Jersey: John Wiley.

Weil, S., Hussain, T., Brunyé, T., Diedrich, F.J., Entin, E. E., Ferguson, W., Sidman, J., Spahr, L., MacMillan, J., & Roberts, B. (2005). Assessing the potential of massive multi-player games as tools for military training. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Arlington, VA: NDIA.

Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Haimson, C., Weil, S. A., & Diedrich, F. J. (2005). Systems, studies, and strategies in game-based training. Paper presented at the Training, Education and Simulation International, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

MacMillan, J., Garrity, M. J., & Wiese, E. W. (2005, November 25). The value of metrics: You can’t train what you can’t measure. Mass High Tech.

Garrity, M. J., Entin, E. B., Morley, R. M., & MacMillan, J. (2004). A streamlined scenario-based methodology for evaluating distributed performance. AFRL Research Report AFRL-HE-AZ-TR-2004-0130. Mesa, AZ: United States Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Effectiveness Directorate.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. E., & Serfaty, D. (2004). Communication overhead: The hidden cost of team cognition. In E. Salas & S. M. Fiore (Eds.), Team cognition: Process and performance at the inter and intra-individual level. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. B., Hess, K. P., & Paley, M. J. (2004). Measuring performance in a scaled world: Lessons learned from the Distributed Dynamic Decisionmaking (DDD) Synthetic Team Task. In S. G. Schiflett, L. R. Elliott, E. Salas, & M. D. Coovert (Eds.), Scaled worlds: Development, validation, and applications. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co.

MacMillan, J., Paley, M. J., Entin, E. B., & Entin, E. E. (2004). Questionnaires for distributed assessment of team mutual awareness. In N. A. Stanton, A. Hedge, K. Brookhuis, E. Salas, H. W. Hendrick (Eds.), Handbook of human factors and ergonomic methods. Taylor and Francis.

Weil, S. A., Hussain, T. S., Diedrich, F. J., Ferguson, W., & MacMillan, J. (2004).Assessing distributed team performance in DARWARS training: Challenges and methods. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Arlington, VA: NDIA.

Carolan, T., MacMillan, J., Entin, E. B., Morley, R. M., Schreiber, B. T., Portrey, A., et al. (2003). Integrated Performance Measurement and Assessment in Distributed Mission Operations Environments: Relating Measures to Competencies. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Arlington, VA: NDIA.

Diedrich, F. J., Carley, K. M., MacMillan, J., Baker, K., Schlabach, J. L., & Fink, J. V. (2003). Visualization of threats and attacks in urban environments. Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, 29(1), 42-45.

Diedrich, F. J., Entin, E. E., Hutchins, S. G., Hocevar, S. P., Rubineau, B., & MacMillan, J. (2003). When do organizations need to change (Part I)? Coping with incongruence. Proceedings of the 2003 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Washington, DC.

Lai, F., MacMillan, J., Daudelin, D., & Kent, D. (2003). Improving acceptance and adoption of informatics tools: Acute cardiac care. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 47th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Linegang, M., Haimson, C., MacMillan, J., & Freeman, J. (2003). Human control in mixed-initiative systems: Lessons from the MICA-SHARC program. Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, & Cybernetics, Arlington, VA.

Diedrich, F. J., Roberts, B., Diller, D. E., MacMillan, J., & Deutsch, S. (2002). Hybrid team training testbed for AWACS aircraft controllers. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (pp. 2030-2034). Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Entin, E. E., Diedrich, F. J., MacMillan, J., & Serfaty, D. (2002). Awareness and C2 organizational structure. Proceedings of the 2002 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Monterey, CA.

Freeman, J. T., & MacMillan, J. (2002). Mixed-initiative control of robotic systems. Proceedings of the 2002 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Monterey, CA.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. E., & Serfaty, D. (2002). From team structure to team performance: A framework. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

MacMillan, J., Paley, M. J., Levchuk, Y. N., Entin, E. E., Serfaty, D. & Freeman, J. T. (2002). Designing the best team for the task: Optimal organizational structures for military missions. In M. McNeese, E. Salas, & M. Endsley (Eds.), New trends in cooperative activities: System dynamics in complex settings. San Diego, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Press.

MacMillan, J., Roberts, B., Diller, D. E., Diedrich, F. J., & Deutsch, S. (2002). Training team skills using computer-generated forces. Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Computer-Generated Forces and Behavior Representation, Orlando, FL.

Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., & Levchuk, Y. (2000). Team modeling: Can teams be engineered? Human Systems Integration Technologies, Tools, and Techniques Seminar.

MacMillan, J., Paley, M.J. & Levchuk, Y.N. (2000). Model-based team design. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 44th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Poirier, J., MacMillan, J., Hess, K., Freeman, J., & Serfaty, D. (2000). Conceptual description: The Sophisticated Automatic Policy-Generation Executor (SAGE) tool. Proceedings of the 2000 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.

Ahlstrom, V., MacMillan, J., Tenney, R.J., Pew, R.W., Cranston, R.L., & Mogford, R. (1999). Human error mitigation in future operations control centers. Federal Aviation Administration Technical Report, DOT/FAA/CT-TN99-14.

Hess, S. M., MacMillan, J., & Elliot, L. (1999). Team-in-the-loop, synthetic simulation: Bridging the gap between laboratory and field research. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Hess, S. M., MacMillan, J., Serfaty, D., & Elliot, L. (1999). From cognitive task analysis to simulation: Developing a synthetic team task for AWACS Weapons Directors. Proceedings of the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Newport, RI.

MacMillan, J., Paley, M. J., Levchuk, Y. N., & Serfaty, D. (1999). Designing the information space and physical layout for a command center based on an optimized organizational structure. Proceedings of the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Newport, RI.

MacMillan, J., Paley, M. J., Serfaty, D. & Levchuk, Y. (1999). Designing the best team for the task: A method that combines algorithms, heuristics, and expert judgment. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 43rd Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

MacMillan, J., Tatum, B.C., Freeman, B., & Ropp, G.A. (1999). An analysis of the performance and usability of a software coach for Navy manpower planning. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 11(1), 47-69.

Paley, M. J., MacMillan, J, Serfaty, D. & Levchuk, Y. (1999). Designing optimal organizational structures for combat information centers in the next generation of Navy ships. Proceedings of the 1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium, Newport, RI.

Entin, E. E., MacMillan, J., & Serfaty, D. (1998). Analysis of organizational processes in adaptive command and control architectures. Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Conference, San Diego, CA.

MacMillan, J., Deutsch, S. E., & Young, M. J. (1997). A comparison of alternatives for automated decision support in a multi-task environment. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

MacMillan, J., Getty, D.J., Tatum, B. C., & Ropp, G.A. (1997). Visual metaphors and mental models in display design: A method for comparing intangibles. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Serfaty D., MacMillan J., Entin, E. E., & Entin E. B. (1997). The decision-making expertise of battle commanders. In C. E. Zsambok and G. Klein (Eds.), Naturalistic decision-making. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Deckert, J. C., Entin, E. B., Entin, E. E., MacMillan, J., & Serfaty, D. (1996). Military command decision making expertise. ARI Research Note 96-15. U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Alexandria, VA.

Stacy, E. W., & MacMillan, J. (1995, June). Cognitive bias in software engineering. Communications of the ACM.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. B., & Serfaty, D. (1994). Human fusion of image and numeric information in machine-aided target recognition. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

MacMillan, J., Serfaty, D., Entin, E. E., & Helin, W. C. (1994). Personal instruction module for electronic warfare adaptive tutor (TR-657). Burlington, MA: ALPHATECH, Inc.

MacMillan, J., Entin, E. B., & Serfaty, D. (1993). Evaluating expertise in a complex domain-Measures based on theory. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES.

Entin, E. B., & MacMillan, J. (1992). Design of a decision aid for ballistic missile defense. Proceedings of the 1992 Symposium on Command and Control Research, McLean, VA.

MacMillan, J., & Entin, E. B. (1991). Decision-oriented display design and evaluation. Proceedings of the 1991 Symposium on Command and Control Research, McLean, VA.

MacMillan, J., & Shaw, J. J. (1990). Experimental evaluation of a knowledge-based air strike planning aid. Proceedings of the 1990 Symposium on Command and Control Research, McLean, VA.

MacMillan, J. & Wohl, J. (1988). Human decisions in an SDI command and control system. In S. E. Johnson & A. H. Levis (Eds.), Science of command and control: Part II, Coping with complexity. Fairfax, VA: AFCEA International Press.

For more information about Dr. MacMillan’s publications, please contact aptima_info@aptima.com.