Journal of Ergonomics
Open Access

Philip G Fatolitis

Biography

A Florida native from the Tampa Bay area, Phil enlisted in the Navy in 1989. He spent the first 10 years of his naval career as a Corpsman (medic), with specialties that included Aerospace Medicine, Aerospace Physiology, Aviation Waster Survival Instructor, Navy SCUBA diver and Emergency Medical Technician. During his enlistment, he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Psychology. After a brief break in service, Phil worked as a Personnel Psychologist at the Naval Education and Training Command where he developed and validated aptitude exams for Navy enlisted personnel. During this time he was also employed at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, where, as a Research Associate, he assisted on research in the domains of Augmented Cognition and spatial disorientation. After receiving a commission as a Naval Aerospace Experimental Psychologist, Phil was assigned to the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory where he led or collaborated on research in the areas of aviator selection test development and validation, Augmented Cognition and spatial disorientation. After completing this tour of duty and being admitted to the University of Central Florida for continued graduate training, he earned a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology. After completing UCF’s academic program Phil continued to conduct research in Augmented Cognition and spatial disorientation and eventually added human error in aviation mishaps to his research repertoire. After almost 24 years of active duty service, he retired from the military and gained employment in the petro-chemical industry as a Human Factors Engineer. His current duties at an oil refinery include facilitation of safety investigations, procedure editing and field ergonomics. He has been an adjunct professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University since 2011.

Research Interest

Human Factors in the process industries, human error