David Schuster

David Schuster is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at San Jose State University's College of Social Sciences. His research bridges psychology and technology to optimize human-machine interaction in complex domains including cybersecurity, robotics, and healthcare systems.

Schuster investigates cognitive processes in cybersecurity operations, focusing on mental models of threat response, team dynamics in security incident handling, and proficiency development for defenders. His robotics work examines shared understanding between humans and autonomous systems, while healthcare research analyzes training impacts on safety outcomes and team cognition. Current projects address critical vulnerabilities exposed by events like the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange breaches.

His publication trends (2018-2025) show concentrated cybersecurity research through cognitive engineering lenses, with significant contributions to team-level knowledge assessment, simulation-based training, and mental model analysis. Interdisciplinary education initiatives like APEX for community college students demonstrate applied computing integration across biology and statistics curricula.

Schuster leads the VectrLab research group, developing human-centered approaches to security tool design and defender training. His work connects academic research to real-world challenges through community college partnerships and simulations addressing workforce development needs in cybersecurity.