STTG Member Spotlight: Prof. Tony McDonald

 

Prof. Tony McDonald

Meet Prof. Tony McDonald. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison (UW - Madison). He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Industrial & Systems Engineering department at UW-Madison.

What was the path to your current role?
I started as a Research assistant in the Cognitive Systems Lab at UW-Madison. Upon graduation I worked as a Senior Software Engineer and as a Manager of Software Development at Oracle. I then worked as an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. Currently I am an Assistant Professor in the Industrial & Systems Engineering department at UW-Madison.

What are the responsibilities associated with your role?
Research in Transportation Safety, Machine learning, and intersections between Transportation and Healthcare; Teaching courses on Design, Machine Learning, and Decision Making; and Service to the University, HFES, and TRB.

What made you decide to pursue an academic role?

I chose an academic role because I enjoy working with students and developing their talents and also because I wanted the freedom to explore my own research ideas in machine learning and human factors. 

What do you enjoy the most in your current role?

I enjoy all aspects of my role but working with students is the part I enjoy most. My favorite aspect of working with students is when a student is able to create something that they are proud of or complete a milestone that they did not initially believe they could. 

Could you describe a favorite or recent project?
I am very excited about our ongoing work with active inference models of human behavior - particularly driving behavior (e.g., https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9733256). In that work, we are using active inference theory - an emerging new framework for cognition - to develop quantitative models that can predict driver behavior and decision-making. The most interesting part of the work for me is that we are able to model not just the actions taken by the driver but also their beliefs about the environment and their perceptions. This helps us understand why drivers make decisions and may help us design better interfaces to inform driver beliefs or make automated vehicles more adaptable to human drivers.

What skillsets would you expect from people applying to a role that is similar to yours?
I do not believe that there is a singular skillset that makes someone successful in an academic career (which is, in my opinion, one of the best aspects of academia). However, two skills that many successful folks in academia have are communication and empathy. Communication plays an essential role in virtually every academic responsibility including disseminating research, project management, teaching, grant proposals, and working with administration. Empathy is important for working with students and in the consideration of humans in the systems we study.

What is one piece of advice you would give up-and-coming HF professionals who want to work in surface transportation related roles?
You do not have to be afraid to approach anyone in the field, introduce yourself to them, and ask them questions. I have found this community to be immeasurably kind and welcoming particularly to new professionals and have always benefited from going out of my comfort zone to interact with someone.