Steven J. Kass

Steven J. Kass serves as a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychology within the Usha Kundu, MD College of Health at the University of West Florida. His research focuses on human factors psychology, particularly examining attentional processes through studies on situation awareness, distracted driving, boredom proneness, and cognitive failures. Kass directs the Human Factors Laboratory where he investigates performance optimization in dynamic environments including transportation, healthcare, and military contexts.

His primary research interests include:

• Situation awareness degradation during distracted driving (notably cell phone use)
• Vibrotactile displays for spatial awareness in aviation and healthcare
• Virtual reality applications for training and performance enhancement
• Boredom proneness and vigilance in operational settings
• Cognitive failure mechanisms in high-stakes environments

Recent work emphasizes healthcare applications, developing the MEDUSA training system for nurses and studying VR's impact on mood and cognition.

Notable contributions:

• 2013 testimony before Florida House Transportation Subcommittee influencing texting-while-driving legislation
• 2015 keynote address at Southeastern Psychological Association annual meeting
• Continuous research program since 1998 with consistent funding and publications

His laboratory actively trains undergraduate researchers, with recent projects involving parachute descent simulators, aggressive driving studies, and mobile SA training applications.

Kass advises student researchers across multiple projects and collaborates with US Navy training programs on aviation survival systems. His work bridges theoretical cognitive psychology with practical applications in transportation safety, healthcare performance, and military training systems.