Mark Chignell

Dr. Mark Chignell (born June 17, 1956) is a tenured Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (with a status-only Cross Appointment to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, Canada). In January 2013, he was appointed director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute at the University of Toronto.
He is also a Visiting Scientist at the IBM Centre for Advanced Studies. He joined the University of Toronto as an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering in 1990.
Chignell received a B.Sc. (1st class Hons.) in Psychology from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 1977, and an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering, from the Ohio State University (1984). He has a Ph.D. in Psychology (specializing in mathematical psychology) and his supervisor was Professor Robert A. M. Gregson from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (1981). He was also an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California from 1984 to 1990.
Chignell has coauthored several books, including two books on Intelligent Databases and one book on Expert Systems.
He participated in an 2003 experiment which gave doctors online access to medical databases through a handheld iPAQ PC, which led to changes in the decisions the doctors made.
Chignell was the general chair of ACM Hypertext 2010. His 1991 paper with John Waterworth situated hypertext within a model of information exploration that considers both search and browsing.
In 2003, Chignell founded Vocalage Inc., a company that does usability consulting, outsourced research, and software development.

Dr. Chignell is an expert in user interface design viewed from a human factors perspective. His research interests include healthcare ergonomics and the design of healthcare interfaces, social robotics, mobile computing, and social media. Chignell is also interested in how devices and applications can measure and amplify human capability.

Chignell was born in Ongar, Essex (near London, England) on June 17, 1956. When he was 3 his family moved to Singapore, where his father taught at a school for Royal Air Force family members. When he was 6 his family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand. He attended St. Andrew's College in Christchurch from 1967 through 1973.

Dr. Chignell was a tutor in the Department of Psychology at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) from February 1980 to April 1982. He then did a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Human Performance Laboratory at The Ohio State University from May 1982 through April 1983, under the supervision of Professor Lester E. Krueger (now deceased).

From September 1984 to June 1990 he was an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Southern California.

From May 1989 to August 1989 he was a Visiting Scientist in the Institute of Systems Science in Singapore

From May 1990 to August 1990 he was again a Visiting Scientist in the Institute of Systems Science in Singapore

Since 2002 he has been a Visiting Scientist in the IBM Centre for Advanced Studies in Toronto, Canada

From 2005 to 2010 he was a Visiting Scientist at Keio University (Shonan-Fujisawa Campus) in Japan

From May 2005 to July 2005 he was the recipient of a short-term JSPS Fellowship (working with Professor Michiaki Yasumura at Keio University in Japan).

From December 2006 to July 2007 he was the recipient of a long-term JSPS Fellowship (working with Professor Michiaki Yasumura at Keio University in Japan).

He teaches an undergraduate course on Ergonomic Design of Information Systems, and a graduate course on Design and Analysis of Human Factors Experiments. Since 2010 he has taught an introduction to psychological science for engineers. He formerly taught a course on Ergonomics in the Industrial Workplace. All of these courses were taught in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Toronto.

Chignell has graduated over 20 Ph.Ds. Prominent examples include: Mica Endsley an expert on situation awareness and current Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force; the late Gene Golovchinsky, former senior research scientist at the FXPAL; and Nipon Charoenkitkarn, Dean of the School of Information Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (Bangkok, Thailand). Other graduates from Chignell's lab have, or have had, faculty positions at the National University of Singapore, Laval University (Quebec City), Rutgers University, and Ryerson University.