Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory
Ben Lawson holds a B.Sci. in Biological Psychology and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology. He has 28 years of experience in the military research setting, having served at two Navy labs and one Army lab. He also has served various universities as an Adjunct Professor of Applied Psychology, of Human Factors, and of Military Medicine.
Dr. Lawson’s expertise is in perception and performance during unusual combinations of vestibular, visual, and/or tactile stimuli, with most of his research focusing upon problems such as motion sickness, simulator/cybersickness, spatial disorientation, and illusions of self-motion. In addition to his research to produce published knowledge products, he has delivered applied solutions, such as aeromedical mishap investigations, sensory cueing prototypes, antimotion sickness medications, novel acceleration research devices, and updated military standards for human exposure to motion.
Dr. Lawson has served on the Editorial or Advisory Boards for various books, symposia, scientific journals, and international committees, mainly related to human-systems integration. He currently is assisting committees evaluating cybersickness and preparing reports for NATO, the National Training and Simulation Association, and the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. Dr. Lawson’s participation in the IT2EC Webinar discussion is occurring solely in his capacity as a cybersickness expert. Any views he expresses are his own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the U.S. Government.