In Memoriam: Lawrence (Larry) James Hettinger

Lawrence (Larry) James Hettinger, of Harvard, Massachusetts, passed away on April 7, 2025, surrounded by his loving family. He was known for his kindness, humility, sharp wit, and brilliant mind—a man of deep integrity who found joy in mentoring others.

Born on February 13, 1954, in Columbus, Ohio, Larry was the son of Rita Heider and Stanley Hettinger. He grew up in Durham, New Hampshire, where he served as class president of Oyster River High School’s Class of 1972, played soccer, ran track, and was selected as a delegate to the 1971 White House Conference on Youth. He earned a varsity letter in soccer at The Ohio State University before completing his B.A. in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at OSU in 1986.

From 1985 to 1988, he was a Senior Scientist, Essex Corporation, Orlando, FL, under Robert Kennedy, where he supported a program of human engineering research at the US Navy’s Visual Technology Research Simulator, supporting the design of Navy flight simulators. There, he developed an expertise in understanding simulator sickness.  

From 1988 to 1990, he served as Senior Scientist, Monterey Technologies, Carmel, CA, working on human engineering research at NASA Ames Research Center.  His focus was on causal factors in motion and flight simulator sickness.

From 1990 to 1998, he served as Chief Scientist for Virtual Environments, Logicon Technical Services, Inc., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.  He directed the research activities of a team of 14 human factors and software engineers in support of the US Air Force Supercockpit program. His work focused primarily on research and development of advanced multi-sensory displays and adaptive human-system interface technologies for fighter cockpits.  Initiated and subsequently supported a technology transfer program between Wright-Patterson AFB and Kettering Neuroscience Institute devoted to the development of head-up displays for neurosurgery.  He served as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Wright State University (1990-96) and the University of Cincinnati (1994-95). He served on the team that designed the virtual environment equipment and tool set used onboard NASA Shuttle “Neurolab” missions.

From 1998 to 2000, he was Director of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Arthur D. Little Inc., Cambridge, MA.  He directed the activities of a team of five human factors engineers and ergonomists.  Their work focused primarily on examining design and safety issues in private sector industries, including chemical and petroleum refining, bioengineering, personal computer hardware design and medical training systems design. He served as an expert witness in two patent infringement lawsuits against a major computer hardware and software developer.  He also served on a team that investigated the accidental death of four workers in an explosion at a West Coast oil refinery. He consulted with the American Chemical Society on developing human factors safety standards for the chemical industry. He taught a short course on Human Performance in Virtual Environments at MIT in 2001.

From 2000 to 2011, he was Technical Director for Human Systems Integration, Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Washington, DC.  He served as Human-Systems Integration Technical Director for the US Navy’s Future Surface Combatant (Zumwalt) program.  This work focused on applying HSI and User-Centered Design (UCD) principles to the design of a highly automated, reduced crew-size US Navy destroyer.  This program represented the first systematic application of HSI within a major Department of Defense procurement. It required the development of many new analytic and design techniques that have since been adopted by other Navy and DoD programs.  Responsibilities included technical oversight of an 80-person team of human factors engineers, manpower and personnel experts, ergonomists, graphical user interface developers, consultants, and subject matter experts.  

From 2011 to 2017, he was Principal Research Scientist, Center for Behavioral Sciences, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. He was responsible for the oversight and conduct of a multi-disciplinary program of research on socio-technical and human-systems integration issues in the analysis and design of complex work systems and the prevention of serious injuries and fatalities.  This work examines issues such as organizational communications and decision-making, the nature and role of employee mental models and the design of work processes and human-technology interfaces. In particular, he was instrumental in establishing a collaborative relationship between the Institute and the MIT Partnership for a Systems Approach to Safety, which formed the basis of his later work.  He led major investigations in safety incidents at an aircraft manufacturing company and a commuter rail company.  He also hosted an Institute-sponsored conference on sociotechnical approaches to workplace safety, which was subsequently published as a special issue in the journal Ergonomics.  

After the Institute was closed in 2017, Larry formed a consulting firm: Lawrence J. Hettinger, PhD, LLC.  In collaboration with several other colleagues from the Institute, they became associated with HumanProof LLC where they focused on safety climate issues in commercial trucking.  

When this relationship was no longer viable, Larry established a new collaboration with Marvin J. Dainoff, LLC, and they began work with the Barnstable County Round Table Pilot Project.  In this role, they used their expertise in sociotechnical approaches to safety to assist an effort by the State of Massachusetts to upgrade safety protection for state and local government employees, particularly those in public works occupations.    

However, their focus changed entirely in 2019 when Larry received an invitation to work with Idaho National Laboratories on the problem of modernizing the fleet of nuclear power plants. Larry recruited a team of consultants and developed a sociotechnical approach to enhancing nuclear safety and performance, resulting in a series of published studies. These studies ultimately focused on what may be a central issue of our times; how to use Artificial Intelligence to enhance human capabilities rather than replace them. He was actively and passionately involved in this work until the last weeks of his life.      

Larry was a respected psychologist specializing in human factors engineering, devoted to making the world safer. He authored more than 125 papers and was a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers, the American Psychological Association, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the Resilience Engineering Association.

Submitted by Marvin Dainoff and Yusuke Yamani