GARY KLEIN, Ph.D., is a senior scientist at MacroCognition LLC. Dr. Klein received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1969. He spent the first phase of his career in academia as an assistant professor of psychology at Oakland University (1970-1974). The second phase was spent working for the government as a research psychologist for the U.S. Air Force (1974-1978). The third phase began in 1978 when he founded his own R&D company, Klein Associates, which grew to 37 people by the time it was acquired by Applied Research Associates (ARA) in 2005.
Dr. Klein has developed several models of cognitive processes: Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model to describe how people actually make decisions in natural settings (This research was subsequently incorporated in Army doctrine for command and control). Data/Frame model of sensemaking. Management by Discovery model of planning to handle wicked problems. Triple Path model of insight.
He has also developed several methods: Critical Decision method and Knowledge Audit for doing cognitive task analysis; PreMortem method of risk assessment, ShadowBox method for training cognitive skills. His work has had an impact in the firefighting, military, and aviation communities.
He was instrumental in founding the field of Naturalistic Decision Making. He is a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
He is the author of Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions; The Power of Intuition; Working Minds; Streetlights and Shadows; and Seeing What Ohers Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights.
