U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
12/12/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/12/2025 07:39
Naval Research Laboratory Engineer Receives Prestigious Department of the Navy Award
NEWS | Dec. 12, 2025
Naval Research Laboratory Engineer Receives Prestigious Department of the Navy Award
By Nicholas E. M. Pasquini, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Corporate Communications
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Engineer Shannon McGarry, Ph.D., received the Department of the Navy (DON) 2025 G. Dennis White Early Career Human Systems Integration (HSI) Practitioner Award for contributions and unwavering commitment embodying the essential qualities critical to the advancement of the HSI discipline, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of systems delivered to our warfighters.
"McGarry has exemplified these attributes through her dedicated work and research expertise in the application of eye tracking methodologies to explain and predict individual performance within complex and dynamic environments," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, Test, and Engineering, Mr. Peter C. Reddy, SES, in a memorandum. "Her leadership, management, and collaborative spirit with HSI practitioners and researchers, both within and beyond the U.S. Navy, are highly commendable and have significantly contributed to a broader understanding and application of the HSI discipline."
This prestigious award acknowledges the values White sought to instill in junior and developmental engineers: Cooperation, Courage, Proactivity, Flexibility, and Persistence - as key factors in the success of HSI practitioners.
"Dr. McGarry's work is focused on using eye tracking to monitor an operator's state in real-time, which is being able to identify when someone is overloaded or has lost their situational awareness," said NRL Warfighter Applied Cognition and Technology Section Head Joseph Coyne, Ph.D. and McGarry's supervisor. "Our section as a whole is focused on warfighter performance and conduct science on building better measures of cognitive abilities, like attention or spatial ability, that are now being used to determine who qualifies to be aviators and Flight Officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps."
Human-systems integration focuses on delivering methods and solutions on how to best integrate technology and information systems as it relates to the human. The field is varied and multidisciplinary as it pulls from ergonomics, psychology, engineering, cognitive science, and beyond.
"This award is one of a few HSI awards in the Department of the Navy and I was not expecting to be selected given all the great HSI work going on across the Naval Research Enterprise," McGarry said. "I have dedicated my career to this discipline, and it is great to be recognized as it brings awareness to the field and its value for the services. HSI work can be challenging, as there is much to consider; first and foremost, the human, and then all of the traditional engineering challenges engineers and scientists face, like constraints on cost, design, and feasibility."
McGarry's research explores how a person's scan patterns reflect performance in complex, fast-moving environments, such as supervisory control settings where operators monitor multiple systems and respond to emerging issues. The ultimate goal is to inform the design of displays and control systems so they are best for the warfighter's real-time cognitive demands and state. Rather than presenting static information, her work examines how eye tracking data can indicate whether an operator is seeing, processing, and comprehending critical information.
"Identifying problems is only part of the challenge," McGarry said. "You need actionable plans so people don't just accept the status quo, but engage in problem-solving."
She added that proposing human-centered solutions - rather than just highlighting design flaws - helps gain buy-in across the Navy. "The Navy values safe, effective human-systems integration," McGarry said. "When we frame it as advancing science and technology to improve performance, people start to listen."
McGarry earned a Bachelor of Science from Clemson University in Industrial Engineering in 2016, a Master of Science from Clemson University in Industrial Engineering in 2018, and a Doctorate in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2021.
The NRL Warfighter Applied Cognition and Technology Section investigates how warfighter performance can be enhanced through selection, training, and technology. The Section studies human performance, human-system interaction, and individual differences by leveraging physiological measurement and cognitive modeling within both basic and operationally relevant environments to maximize Department of War capability through improved assessment, training, and systems design.
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL, located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
NRL offers several mechanisms for collaborating with the broader scientific community, within and outside of the Federal government. These include Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), LP-CRADAs, Educational Partnership Agreements, agreements under the authority of 10 USC 4892, licensing agreements, FAR contracts, and other applicable agreements.
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at [email protected].
"McGarry has exemplified these attributes through her dedicated work and research expertise in the application of eye tracking methodologies to explain and predict individual performance within complex and dynamic environments," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, Test, and Engineering, Mr. Peter C. Reddy, SES, in a memorandum. "Her leadership, management, and collaborative spirit with HSI practitioners and researchers, both within and beyond the U.S. Navy, are highly commendable and have significantly contributed to a broader understanding and application of the HSI discipline."
This prestigious award acknowledges the values White sought to instill in junior and developmental engineers: Cooperation, Courage, Proactivity, Flexibility, and Persistence - as key factors in the success of HSI practitioners.
"Dr. McGarry's work is focused on using eye tracking to monitor an operator's state in real-time, which is being able to identify when someone is overloaded or has lost their situational awareness," said NRL Warfighter Applied Cognition and Technology Section Head Joseph Coyne, Ph.D. and McGarry's supervisor. "Our section as a whole is focused on warfighter performance and conduct science on building better measures of cognitive abilities, like attention or spatial ability, that are now being used to determine who qualifies to be aviators and Flight Officers in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps."
Human-systems integration focuses on delivering methods and solutions on how to best integrate technology and information systems as it relates to the human. The field is varied and multidisciplinary as it pulls from ergonomics, psychology, engineering, cognitive science, and beyond.
"This award is one of a few HSI awards in the Department of the Navy and I was not expecting to be selected given all the great HSI work going on across the Naval Research Enterprise," McGarry said. "I have dedicated my career to this discipline, and it is great to be recognized as it brings awareness to the field and its value for the services. HSI work can be challenging, as there is much to consider; first and foremost, the human, and then all of the traditional engineering challenges engineers and scientists face, like constraints on cost, design, and feasibility."
McGarry's research explores how a person's scan patterns reflect performance in complex, fast-moving environments, such as supervisory control settings where operators monitor multiple systems and respond to emerging issues. The ultimate goal is to inform the design of displays and control systems so they are best for the warfighter's real-time cognitive demands and state. Rather than presenting static information, her work examines how eye tracking data can indicate whether an operator is seeing, processing, and comprehending critical information.
"Identifying problems is only part of the challenge," McGarry said. "You need actionable plans so people don't just accept the status quo, but engage in problem-solving."
She added that proposing human-centered solutions - rather than just highlighting design flaws - helps gain buy-in across the Navy. "The Navy values safe, effective human-systems integration," McGarry said. "When we frame it as advancing science and technology to improve performance, people start to listen."
McGarry earned a Bachelor of Science from Clemson University in Industrial Engineering in 2016, a Master of Science from Clemson University in Industrial Engineering in 2018, and a Doctorate in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2021.
The NRL Warfighter Applied Cognition and Technology Section investigates how warfighter performance can be enhanced through selection, training, and technology. The Section studies human performance, human-system interaction, and individual differences by leveraging physiological measurement and cognitive modeling within both basic and operationally relevant environments to maximize Department of War capability through improved assessment, training, and systems design.
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL, located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
NRL offers several mechanisms for collaborating with the broader scientific community, within and outside of the Federal government. These include Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), LP-CRADAs, Educational Partnership Agreements, agreements under the authority of 10 USC 4892, licensing agreements, FAR contracts, and other applicable agreements.
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at [email protected].
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