LeGrand E. Dudley is a second-year Human Factors / Human-Computer Interaction doctoral student at Rice University, working in the HAC Lab (Human-Automation Collaboration Laboratory) under the supervision of Dr. Jing Chen, Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences. His research centers on how automated systems — particularly autonomous vehicles — can be designed to support safe, effective, and appropriately calibrated human-automation interaction in real-world roadway settings.

As a Rice undergraduate from Sid Richardson College, LeGrand majored in Psychology and minored in Data Science, graduating with departmental honors. He earned the Distinction in Research and Creative Works for his undergraduate honors thesis, which examined how the introduction of automated driving technology could change human driving behavior — a question that continues to define the core of his doctoral research agenda.

During his undergraduate career, LeGrand was selected for Old Dominion University’s highly competitive NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) on Interdisciplinary Research in Behavioral Sciences and Transportation Issues. He received the William C. Howell Award for his research accomplishments at both Rice and during the REU — a recognition of his early promise in the human factors field.

In the fall of 2024, at the start of his doctoral program, LeGrand received two major distinctions simultaneously. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award — one of the most prestigious early-career science fellowships in the United States — will fund three years of his graduate education at Rice. He also received the Dean’s Prize from Rice’s Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional academic promise and readiness for the PhD. That same year, he received the STaRT@Rice Scholarship to attend Rice’s advanced statistical methods training program, underscoring his commitment to rigorous quantitative methodology.

LeGrand is also a contributing author on a Springer handbook chapter on Human-Centered AI in Cybersecurity (2026) alongside his advisor Dr. Chen and HAC Lab colleagues, and co-authored a 2023 HFES conference paper on driver responses to lead vehicle deceleration during nighttime conditions.