Heather Priest

Dr. Priest currently serves as the Senior Scientific Technology Manager for Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) Training Solutions for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, Florida leading multi-discipline, cross-functional integrated product teams (IPTs) in the development of new, innovative solutions to Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) training requirements for the military using a human driven approach. Previously, Dr. Priest served as the lab lead for the Science for Training, Evaluation, Analysis, Learning, & THeory (STEALTH) Lab at NAWCTSD as a Senior Research Psychologist following six years at the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI), Technology-Based Training Research Unit in Orlando. She received her M.S in Experimental Psychology from Mississippi State University and her Ph.D. in Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Over the years, Dr. Priest’s research has focused on teams, culture, leadership, performance measurement, intelligent tutoring systems and adaptive training, synthetic teammates for training. and virtual and game-based applications in military and medical training. At NAWC TSD, her research revolves around cognitive task analysis for complex decision making, human performance measurement, after action review, human proficiency and trend analysis, and live, virtual and constructive training with an emphasis on aviation and surface platforms in the Navy. In recent years, Dr. Priest has focused on developing integrated LVC teams across the NAWC that can support and promote the development of enabling technology for distributed, cross-platform and joint LVC, to include programs focused on interoperability, digital communications, and technologies and capabilities to promote Fleet proficiency.