Shuchi Deb

Shuchi Deb is an Associate Professor of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she has served since 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in September 2024. She directs an active, grant-funded research program that blends human-factors engineering, virtual & augmented reality, and transportation safety to improve human-system interaction across manufacturing, education, and public-safety domains.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Industrial & Systems Engineering, Mississippi State University, 2017
• M.S. in Industrial and Management Engineering, Montana State University, 2014
• B.Sc. in Industrial and Production Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (Bangladesh), 2006

Research & Innovation: Deb’s scholarship focuses on human-centred design of complex socio-technical systems. She exploits immersive technologies—virtual, augmented and mixed reality—to study and enhance safety, training transfer, and user experience in contexts ranging from automated-vehicle interactions and cyclist–infrastructure compatibility to additive-manufacturing education and police reality-based training. Her work repeatedly integrates psychophysiological sensing (EEG, eye-tracking, facial-expression analysis) with usability engineering to create adaptive, trustworthy human-machine interfaces.

Recent federally supported projects include an NSF grant to build a bilingual VR platform for additive-manufacturing education ($837 k), a USDOT project developing a driver-readiness monitor for prolonged automated driving, and a Department of Justice award with the Fort Worth Police Department to create VR-based reality training scenarios ($269 k). These grants exemplify her translational approach: coupling rigorous human-factors experimentation with deployable technological solutions.

Scientific Recognition:

• Outstanding Contribution & Mentorship Award, UT Arlington (2024)
• Best Graduate Student Paper, Mississippi State University (2017)
• IIE/FlexSim Simulation Competition Winner (2016)
• SEMS Best Student Paper, IISE (2016)
• Annual Ergonomics Design Competition, Auburn University (2015)

Advising & Grant Leadership: Deb has chaired or served on more than a dozen Ph.D. and M.S. thesis committees and mentored over twenty undergraduate researchers. Since 2019 she has attracted > US $2.3 million in external funding as PI or Co-PI, supporting a broad cohort of graduate researchers who disseminate their work annually at ASEE, IISE, HFES, TRB, and AHFE conferences.

Labs & Teams: She founded and advises the Human Factors Lab at UT Arlington, a shared facility equipped with VR headsets, motion-capture systems, driving and cycling simulators, and psychophysiological recording suites. The lab collaborates with industry (Fort Worth Police, local manufacturers) and across campus (Computer Science, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering) to provide interdisciplinary training to students.