Location
Olsson Hall 101E 151 Engineer's Way
Formal Human Systems Laboratory

About

Dr. Bolton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Virginia. Prior to joining UVA in January 2022, he was a Senior Researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center, an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an Assistant/Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. Dr. Bolton is primarily interested in studying why engineered systems fail, and how to prevent failures through human-centered systems engineering. As such, he is an expert on the use of formal, mathematical methods in human factors engineering, particularly as it relates to discovering engineering oversights that lead to human behavior, error, and cognition contributing to failures. He has successfully applied his research to safety-critical applications in aerospace, medicine, defense, and cybersecurity. Dr. Bolton has received funding on projects sponsored by the European Space Agency, NSF, NASA, AHRQ, and DoD.

Education

B.S. Computer Science, University of Virginia, 2003

M.S. Systems Engineering, University of Virginia, 2006

Ph.D. Systems Engineering, University of Virginia, 2010

Research Interests

System safety and reliability
Human performance modeling
Formal methods
Situational and spatial awareness
Human-automation/-autonomy/-robot interaction
Complex systems failure
Psychophysics and psychometrics
Auditory perception
Cybersecurity
Technology and democracy
Engineering ethics

Selected Publications

Masking between reserved alarm sounds of the IEC 60601-1-8 international medical alarm standard: A systematic, formal analysis. Human Factors, 17 pages BOLTON, M. L., EDWORTHY, J., & BOYD, A. D. (ND)
ABS
A formal method for including the probability of erroneous human task behavior in system analysis. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 213, 13 pages BOLTON, M. L., ZHENG, X., & KANG, E. (2021)
The level of measurement of trust in automation. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomic Science, 22, 274-295 WEI, J., BOLTON, M. L., HUMPHRY, L. (2021)
The development of a next-generation human reliability analysis: Systems analysis for formal pharmaceutical human reliability (SAFPH℞). Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 202, 15 pages ZHENG, X., BOLTON, M. L., DALY, C., & BILTEKOFF, E. (2020)
Evaluating the applicability of the double system lens model to the analysis of phishing email judgments. Computers and Security, 17, 128-137 MOLINARO, K., & BOLTON, M. L. (2018)
A task-based taxonomy of erroneous human behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 108, 105-121 BOLTON, M. L. (2017)

Awards

Jerome H. Ely Human Factors Article Award, for the best paper published in the Human Factors journal 2021
William C. Howell Young Investigator Award, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2018
Army Young Investigator Award 2015-2017
Senior Member of the IEEE Society 2015
Franklin V. Taylor Memorial Award for the Best Conference Paper at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Systems Man and Cybernetics 2011