Lieutenant Colonel James Walliser
Director, Systems Engineering Program
Bio
Lieutenant Colonel James Walliser, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Systems Engineering Program at the U.S. Air Force Academy. In this role he equips 200+ cadets in the Systems Engineering Major with tools and experiences necessary to solve the world’s most complex socio-technical problems. He leads a team of systems engineering professors and instructors delivering a comprehensive systems engineering education including the latest in model based systems engineering. In previous roles, he oversaw engineering efforts for the nation's air delivered leg of the nuclear triad serving in multiple positions within the Long Range Standoff Cruise Missile and the B61-12 Tailkit Assembly program offices guiding these programs through successful development activities, major acquisition milestones, and numerous system engineering technical reviews. He also served as Lead F-22 Human Factors Engineer overseeing numerous human factors developmental test events. LtCol Walliser received his Ph.D. in Human Factors and Applied Cognition from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
Education
Ph.D., Human Factors & Applied Cognition, George Mason University (2017)
M.E., Applied Systems Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology (2023)
M.S., Human Systems Integration, Naval Postgraduate School (2011)
B.S., Behavioral Science – Human Factors, USAFA (2005)
Professional Experience
Director, Systems Engineering Program, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2023-Present)
Director, Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center, Dept of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2021-2023)
Assistant Professor, Dept of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, U.S. Air Force Academy, CO (2021-Present)
System Performance Branch Chief, LRSO Program Office, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Eglin AFB, Florida (2020-2021)
Deputy Chief Engineer, LRSO Program Office, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Eglin AFB, Florida (2019-2020)
Lead System Engineer, B61-21 Tailkit Assembly Program Office, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Eglin AFB, Florida (2017-2019)
AFIT PhD Student, George Mason University, Virginia (2014-2017)
Assistant Professor, Dept of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, USAFA, Colorado (2011-2014)
AFIT Masters Student, Naval Postgraduate School, California (2009-2011)
Lead F-22A Human Factors Engineer, 412 Test Engineering Group, Edwards Air Force Base, California (2005-2009)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Human Robot Teams, Social Robotics, Human Performance Modeling, Digital Engineering, System Engineering
Publications
Burcham, Shea, et al. “Model-Based Systems Engineering Cybersecurity of Field Programmable Gate Arrays for Future Weapons Systems.” Proceedings of the Annual General Donald R. Keith Memorial Conference. 2023.
Hughes, Hunter, et al. “Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Q-UGV for Future Power Systems and Emerging Military Requirements.” Proceedings of the Annual General Donald R. Keith Memorial Conference. 2023.
Walliser, James C., Ewart J. de Visser, and Tyler H. Shaw. “Exploring system wide trust prevalence and mitigation strategies with multiple autonomous agents.” Computers in Human Behavior 143 (2023): 107671.
Momen, Ali, et al. “Trusting the moral judgments of a robot: perceived moral competence and Humanlikeness of a GPT-3 enabled AI.” (2023).
Walliser, J. C., de Visser, E. J., Wiese, E., & Shaw, T. H. (2019). Team structure and team building improve human–machine teaming with autonomous agents. Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 13(4), 258-278.
Kluck, M., Kohn, S. C., Walliser, J. C., de Visser, E. J., & Shaw, T. H. (2018, September). Stereotypical of Us to Stereotype Them: The Effect of System-Wide Trust on Heterogeneous Populations of Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 62, No. 1, pp. 1103-1107). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Walliser, J. C., Mead, P. R., & Shaw, T. H. (2017, September). The perception of teamwork with an autonomous agent enhances affect and performance outcomes. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 231-235). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Walliser, J.C., de Visser, E. J., & Shaw, T.H. (2016, September) Application of a system-wide trust strategy when supervising multiple autonomous agents. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 60, 1) SAGE Publications.
Walliser, J., Tulk, S., Hertz, N., Issler, E., & Wiese, E. (2015, October). Effects of Perspective Taking on Implicit Attitudes and Performance in Economic Games. In International Conference on Social Robotics (pp. 684-693). Springer International Publishing.
Samuels, S. M., Lindsay, D. Watola, D., Walliser, J., & Reimer, R. (2013). The impact of using a survey framework in leadership education: Is more better? Journal of Leadership Education, 12(1), 9-17.
Walliser, J.C. (2011). Trust in automated systems: The effect of automation level on trust calibration (ADA547808). Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School.
O'Connor P., Walliser J., & Philips E. (2010). Evaluation of a human factors analysis and classification system used by trained raters. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 81, 957-960.
Walliser, J.C., & Anderson, M.J. (2008). F-22A small diameter bomb maintainer-vehicle interface test and evaluation (AFFTC-TR-07-54). Edwards Air Force Base: Air Force Flight Test Center.
Walliser, J.C., & Daetz, D.D. (2008). F-22A light emitting diode navigation light demonstration (AFFTC-TR-08-33). Edwards Air Force Base: Air Force Flight Test Center.
Walliser, J.C., & Starr, M.S. (2008). F-22A revised life support equipment cockpit compatibility demonstration (AFFTC-TR-08-25). Edwards Air Force Base: Air Force Flight Test Center.