Nadine Sarter

Nadine B. Sarter, Richard W. Pew Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Operations Engineering, professor of industrial and operations engineering, and of aerospace engineering, College of Engineering. Sarter received her B.S. in 1981 and M.S. in psychology in 1983, both from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and her Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering in 1994 from The Ohio State University. She joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an assistant professor in 1996. In 1999, she became an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at Ohio State and was promoted to associate professor in 2002. Sarter joined U-M as an associate professor of industrial and operations engineering in 2004 and was promoted to professor in 2011. She also held an affiliate faculty appointment in robotics. Sarter’s research focused on supporting safe and effective human-machine interaction and human-autonomy teaming by studying performance effects of system complexity, operator trust in (semi)autonomous systems, multimodal display design, interruption management, and the design of decision aids for high-tempo operations. She was director of the U-M Center for Ergonomics from 2015-23 and a member of the College of Engineering Executive Committee from 2021-24.

Note: Professor Sarter has retired as of August of 2024 and is no longer taking on new graduate students.

Additional Title(s)

• Richard W. Pew Collegiate Professor of Industrial & Operations Engineering

Professor Sarter taught courses in cognitive ergonomics and organizational safety. Her main research interests include human-automation/robot interaction, the design of tactile and multimodal interfaces, human error/error management, attention/interruption management, and the design of decision support systems. Her research is conducted in application domains such as aviation, military operations, and the modern car cockpit. Professor Sarter serves as Associate Editor for Human Factors.