Dr. Daniel J. Zelik

Daniel J. Zelik, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director of the Human Effectiveness Directorate (RH), 711th Human Performance Wing (711HPW), U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), Ohio. RH leads the Department of the Air Force in human-centered research through developing, integrating, and delivering biological and cognitive technologies that optimize and protect the Airman and Guardian's capabilities to Fly, Fight, and Win in Air, Space, and Cyberspace. The Directorate is comprised of over 1,000 personnel in dozens of occupational series, across multiple operating locations, with an annual budget exceeding $150M.

Dr. Zelik previously served as 711HPW Deputy Chief Scientist, advising Wing, RH, and U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) leadership on planning and execution of its multidisciplinary science and technology portfolio and representing the Wing as academic engagement lead, industry partnership liaison, and SBIR/STTR program manager. He also served as RH Research Lead for the Systems Analytics Core Research Area and Technical Advisor for the Mission Analytics Branch. In these positions he led the creation of a new Airmen-centered data analytics portfolio and provided technical guidance, oversight, and mentorship for more than 100 civilian, military, contractor, and academic scientists and engineers executing annual research over $8M.

Dr. Zelik began his career with AFRL in 2014 as a Senior Cognitive Systems Engineer. In this role he led multiple high-visibility and high-impact research and development efforts, secured over $3.5M in outside funding, authored more than a dozen conference publications and technical reports, and developed technologies that delivered new or enhanced mission capability to intelligence analysts and warfighters across the Department of Defense (DoD). Before joining AFRL, he worked as a DoD small business contractor developing system interfaces for a diverse set of intelligence community projects and as a NASA intern supporting projects related to space station habitability, human reliability analysis, and retrospective crew time analysis.

Dr. Zelik earned graduate degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University, specializing in Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE), and undergraduate degrees in Industrial Engineering and Psychology from Iowa State University of Science and Technology. He has over 20 years of experience in government, industry, and academia applying CSE to design, develop, and assess human-centric technologies for data analysis and decision making. His research interests include how professional intelligence analysts assess analytic rigor, cope with data overload, and overcome challenges to sense-making.