During the past two decades, advances in technology have allowed researchers to develop computer-based versions of classical tests of human abilities and skills. These computer-based human performance tests have evolved into more advanced computer-based test batteries that included many tests for assessing a broad range of skills and abilities and often at various difficulty levels. These test batteries have documented effectiveness in human performance research and real-world applications including job screening and selection, general medical applications in the areas of neuropsychology and disease assessment, and in a vast array of educational, industrial, and business applications.

Despite the increasingly important role that these testing methods play in so many arenas, there are currently no research and development centers that focus on the investigation, advancement, and quality assessment of task batteries. The lack of a focused, over-arching initiative in this area has resulted in lost continuity and some funded efforts not reaching their full potential. Obtaining the maximum benefit from past investments while supporting a fuller application of evolving technology to improve these task batteries requires a comprehensive and coordinated effort to apply cutting-edge quality assurance evaluations and programmatic research, development, and validation programs. There is no research group in the country with better qualifications and more experience in this field than the collaborative team directing the work of the Center for the Study of Human Operator Performance.

The multidisciplinary coalition driving the development of C-SHOP is the highly successful working relationship between Dr. Kirby Gilliland, David Ross Boyd Professor in the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Robert E. Schlegel, a Presidential Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering. Drs. Gilliland and Schlegel have been colleagues since 1978 and have worked collaboratively on a near-continuous series of funded research projects totaling over $3.2M since 1984.

Dr. Gilliland and Dr. Schlegel have been actively involved in studies of human operator performance at the University of Oklahoma for over 20 years. They have received funding to evaluate many of the cognitive performance assessment batteries that have been developed over this time. Their past research has focused on the measurement of human information processing capabilities, basic psychometric studies of computerized task batteries, individual differences in performance capabilities, and the assessment of performance and mental workload while under the influence of various stressors such as noise, sleep loss, heat, fatigue, work shifts, caffeine, and antihistamines. In 2002, they founded the Center for the Study of Human Operator Performance at the University of Oklahoma and currently serve as the joint directors. They are well respected in academic and military circles and were recently honored as U.S. representatives on a NATO RTO Task Group providing expertise on Operator Functional State Assessment. Their prior research has been sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, NASA, NATO, the FAA, and the Boeing Military Airplane Corporation.