Siby Samuel

Dr. Samuel directs the User Performance Lab (UPL) at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Samuel’s research broadly spans surface transportation human factors, healthcare human factors and safety. Dr. Samuel utilizes a variety of experimental techniques to measure human performance and study human behavior. The core theme of his work is centered around the etiology of crashes (or errors) or the study of crash (error) causation. The goal is to advance user safety by accounting for the limitations of both, infrastructure and interface device design. Specifically, Siby’s research deals with:
- Road User (drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists) safety
- Caregiver Behavior and Medical Errors
- Autonomous vehicles, Connected vehicles and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
- Design and assessment of Traffic Control Devices, Roadway Infrastructure and Automotive Interfaces
- Application of Virtual Environments for Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy.
- Development and evaluation of population-specific, cognitive Training Interventions (novice drivers, older drivers aged 65 and above, pedestrians, special population with ADHD and mild cognitive impairments)
- Measurement of Driver Distraction, Fatigue, Mental Workload and Situation Awareness.

• Simulation & Virtual Reality\/Augmented Reality
• Novice and Older Driver Training
• Predictive & Conceptual Modeling of Behaviour
• Eye tracking
• Attention & Cognition
• Perception
• Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
• Decision Making
• Aging
• Automotive Human factors
• Autonomous and Connected Vehicles & Intelligent Transportation Systems
• Caregiver Behaviours & Errors
• Assistive & Automotive Interfaces
• Vulnerable Road User Safety (Pedestrians & Bicyclists)
• Motorcyclist Safety
• Special Populations (ADHD & Dementia)
• Traffic Control Devices & Roadway Infrastructure Design

FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEES, Transportation Research Board (National Academy of Sciences), Standing Committee on Vehicle User Characteristics, AND10, Main Member, April 15, 2016 – April 14, 2019, Transportation Research Board (National Academy of Sciences), Standing Committee on Simulation and Measurement of Vehicle and Operator Performance, AND30, Young Member, April 15, 2016 – April 14, 2019, PEER REVIEWER, The Journal of Human Factors (HF), Journal of Transportation Safety & Security (JTSS), Accident Analysis & Prevention (AAP), Applied Ergonomics, Ergonomics, Transportation Science, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, Journal of IET, Transportation Research Board Annual Conference, Automotive User Interfaces Conference,

• 2014, Doctorate Industrial Engineering & Operations Research, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
• 2009, Bachelor's Electrical & Electronics Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India

• BME 411 - Optimization and Numerical Methods
  • Taught in 2020
• SYDE 411 - Optimization and Numerical Methods
  • Taught in 2020, 2023
• SYDE 542 - Interface Design
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• SYDE 599 - Special Topics in Systems Design Engineering
  • Taught in 2024, 2025
• SYDE 642 - Cognitive Engineering Methods
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025
• SYDE 644 - Human Factors Testing
  • Taught in 2025
• SYDE 740 - Selected Topics in Human Systems
  • Taught in 2021, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Samuel, S., Yahoodik, S., Yamani, Y., Valluru, K., & Fisher, D. L., Ethical decision making behind the wheel–A driving simulator study, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, , 2020
• Park, J., Pugh, N., Darko, J., Folsom, L., & Samuel, S., Explicit Forward Glance Duration Hidden Markov Model for Inference of Spillover Detection, In: Stanton N. (eds) Advances in Human Factors of Transportation. AHFE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing. Springer, Cham, , 2020
• Ebadi, Y., Pai, G., Samuel, S., & Fisher, D. L., Impact of Cognitive Distractions on Drivers’ Hazardous Event Anticipation and Mitigation Behavior in Vehicle–Bicycle Conflict Situations, Transportation Research Record, 504, 2020
• Schneider, C., Hajiseyedjavadi, F., Tainter, F., Knodler, M., Zhang, J., Romoser, M.R.E., Samuel, S., & Fisher, D.L., Measuring the Applicability of Intersection-Based Older Driver Training Programs, Transportation Research Record, 878, 2020
• Samuel, S., Yamani, Y., & Fisher, D.L., Understanding Drivers’ Latent Hazard Anticipation in Partially Automated Vehicle Systems, International Journal of Human Factors & Ergonomics, 282, 2020
• Hatfield, N., Yamani, Y., Palmer, D. B., Yahoodik, S., Vasquez, V., Horrey, W. J., & Samuel, S., Analysis of Visual Scanning Patterns Comparing Drivers of Simulated L2 and L0 Systems., Transportation Research Record, , 2019
• Muttart, J.W., Dinakar, S., Fisher, D., Garrison, T.M., & Samuel, S., Evaluation of a Training Intervention to Improve Novice Drivers Hazard Mitigation When Approaching Left Turn Scenarios, Transportation Research Record, , 2019
• Pai Mangalore, G., Ebadi, Y., Samuel, S., Knodler, M. A., Fisher, D. L., The Promise of Virtual Reality Headsets: Can They be Used to Measure Accurately Drivers’ Hazard Anticipation Performance?, Transportation Research Record, , 2019
• Bakhtiari, S., Zhang, T., Zafian, T., Samuel, S., Knodler, M., Fitzpatrick, C., & Fisher, D. L., Effect of Visual and Auditory Alerts on Older Drivers’ Glances toward Latent Hazards while Turning Left at Intersections, Transportation Research Record, , 2019
• Park, Hyoshin and Haghani, Ali and Samuel, Siby and Knodler, Michael A, Real-time prediction and avoidance of secondary crashes under unexpected traffic congestion, Accident Analysis \\& Prevention, 39, 2018

• More than $1.3 million awarded to Waterloo researchers