Chad Tossell

Bio: Dr. Tossell leads the Human and Sociotechnical Systems Research (HSSR) program at the Center for National Security Initiatives (NSI) and is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.S. in Applied Psychology from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in Human Factors/Human-Computer Interaction from Rice University. Before joining the University of Colorado, Dr. Tossell taught courses in psychology, human factors, human-computer interaction, and systems engineering at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), where he was recognized with the Outstanding Academy Educator Award in 2023. His research in human-AI teaming, autonomous driving, social robotics, education and training, and the will to fight has led to numerous publications, multiple research awards, and media coverage in outlets such as The Economist. Previous to his faculty role at USAFA, Dr. Tossell served as a Behavioral Scientist and Developmental Engineer in various technical and leadership positions worldwide. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2014-2015 and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his leadership in combat.

Interests: Dr. Tossell’s research aims to understand and improve the responsible and effective integration of AI, robots, and other emerging technologies (e.g., extended reality, wearable technologies, etc.) into defense and society. Key to his approach is the exploration of how these technologies influence ethical decision-making, trust, workload, team performance, and resolve using qualitative, behavioral, physiological, and telemetric data collected in ecologically-valid settings. Dr. Tossell collaborates with experts across a wide variety of disciplines for both foundational and applied research.