Systems Cognition Engineering Laboratory (SCEL) is a Human Factors research group with a mission to advance theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge to design and evaluate technology compatible with human for maximizing system level cognitive capabilities for better safety, productivity, security and health at workplaces. SCEL are formerly known as the Virginia Cognitive Engineering Laboratory (VACSE).
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"Our expectations have to be of the highest. The highest priority for us is that we are be able to reach our own expectation... that’s the best we can do. And we can feel comfortable that we have given you the best. And if you appreciate it, great. If you don’t, then we’ve only failed you but we have not failed ourselves. And that’s an important thing for us to remember." - Thomas Keller
SCEL aspires to produce best research that our members can produce. We strive to make that the culture of our laboratory. We constantly seek those with the same commitment to research to join us or collaborate with us. We are located in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Virginia Tech.
Contact Dr. Nathan Lau for comments and inquiries.
News
Oct 7, 2025
Oct 7, 2025
Co-edited by Drs, Chockalingam, Colomo-Palacios, Jee, and Lau, the special issue on Human Factors in Cybersecurity in the journal - Computer Standards and Interface - is finally available online!
Sep 30, 2025
Sep 30, 2025
SCEL celebrates the successful final PhD defense of Shiyu Deng and Gram Hsing. Congratulations to Drs. Deng and Hsing!
Aug 18, 2025
Aug 18, 2025
In collaboration with Carilion Clinics, SCEL recently published an article in Scientific Reports on combining discrete event simulation and agent-based modeling of Distributed Situation Awareness for patient flow management (Open Access).
July 23, 2025
July 23, 2025
Dr. Lau and Anirudh More hosted four outreach sessions to exposure pre-college students about minimal invasive surgery and human factors at the 2025 Virginia Tech Summer Programs.
July 4, 2025
July 4, 2025
Dr. Lau presented SCEL research on eye-tacking in surgical training at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. Thanks to Dr. Shanqing (SQ) Yin hosting!
July 2, 2025
July 2, 2025
Dr. Lau presented his perspectives on the impacts of Human-AI collaboration for industries and the economy with Dr. David Wang, IMF, and Dr. Zhou, U of Wisconsin - Madison at the INFORMS Conference on Quality, Statistics and Reliability (ICQSR).
May 13, 2025
May 13, 2025
SCEL recently published an article in the Ergonomics on the discussion on whether Human is Necessary (at workplaces).
April 22, 2025
April 22, 2025
SCEL recently published an article in the Sensors on gaze-based knowedlgement of alarms.
Mar 27, 2025
Mar 27, 2025
SCEL recently co-published an article with VT Occupational Ergonomics and Biomechanics Laboratories (OEB) in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics on EEG measurements for workload assessment in VR.
Dec 24, 2024
Dec 24, 2024
SCEL recently published an article in Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society on comparing scene- independent and dependent metrics in training for laparoscopic surgery.
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