Presenter

Dr. Rhyse Bendell’s research focuses on human–AI teaming, macrocognition, spatial cognition, and performance in complex environments. He has authored >35 peer-reviewed publications across domains including human-AI teaming, experimental psychology, team science, spatial cognition, and simulated testbed development. His work integrates empirical research with technical development to study human-agent interaction as well as how individual traits, team dynamics, and contextual factors shape collaborative processes and team performance. He began his research career in mechanical engineering, working on bio-inspired prosthetic systems in the Biomechatronics Group at the MIT Media Lab. He later transitioned to UCF's Team Performance Lab, contributing to simulation design and field studies on human–robot interaction as part of the Army’s Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance. As a doctoral researcher on DARPA’s Artificial Social Intelligence for Teams (ASIST) program, he led task and study design efforts and developed analytic methods for profiling team cognition. Dr. Bendell is also a recipient of UCF’s Preeminent Postdoctoral Program (P3) award, which partially supports his current work on government funded projects examining the integration of AI into military teams as well as macrocognition in long-duration space exploration. He also serves as team lead for multi-lab research initiatives focused on cognitive teaming and adaptive systems.