How working with dogs has helped me be a better researcher, teacher, and person: Lessons Learned from being a search and rescue K9 handler

Dr. Heather C. Lum (she/her) is an assistant professor and director of the Virtual Environments & Cognitive Training Research (VECToR) laboratory at Arizona State University. She earned her Ph.D. in applied experimental and human factors psychology from the University of Central Florida in 2011. Her primary research interests focus on human-animal teams as a model for human-robot teaming. Dr. Lum conducted research on human-non-human teaming in the summer of 2023 as part of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program and will be returning to the Air Force Academy this summer to continue this work. 

In addition to her research pursuits, Dr. Lum is the current president of HF/E Women's Organization for Mentoring and Networking (HFE WOMAN) and former events chair. She is also a K9 handler and training coordinator for the Yavapai County Search and Rescue Team-Search Dog Unit and a trainer/evaluator for the National Association for Search and Rescue.