The Ayaz Lab is pleased to congratulate Dr. Jan Lawrence Watson on the successful defense of his PhD dissertation in Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering and Science.
Dr. Watson’s dissertation, “A Neuroergonomic Approach to Human Performance Assessment in E-gaming,” investigated cognitive control, expertise, neural efficiency, and distributed team cognition. Advised by Dr. Hasan Ayaz, the research combined wearable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with behavioral measures to examine how individuals and teams allocate cognitive resources during complex, dynamic tasks. Findings highlighted how expertise, task demands, and collaborative context shape the relationship between prefrontal activity and performance.
The Ayaz Lab thanks Dr. Watson’s dissertation committee—Dr. Hasan Ayaz, Dr. John Kounios, Dr. Rajneesh Suri, Dr. Ahmet Sacan, and Dr. Andres Kriete—for their guidance and support.
Congratulations, Dr. Watson, on this outstanding achievement and the exciting research directions ahead!
