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Our Team
Curt C. Braun, Ph.D.
Dr. Braun is the president, CEO, and founder of Benchmark. Dr. Braun has brought psychological and human factors principles to a variety of industries, including aviation, software development, public administration and research, and wildland management. In each field, Dr. Braun has worked to identify and shape the psychological and system design factors that promote human performance. Dr. Braun has been actively providing training to individuals charged with the management of the nation's wildland fires on topics including decision-making, team development, team processes, and human behavior in the fire environment.
Dr. Braun was a professor of psychology at the University of Idaho between 1994 and 2007, where he taught courses in the design of complex systems, research methods, statistics, and ergonomics. He maintains his connections at the University of Idaho as an affiliate faculty member. Dr. Braun holds a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida.
Eric F. Shaver, Ph.D.
Dr. Shaver is a senior consultant specializing in human factors/ergonomics, safety, and research design/analysis. Dr. Shaver's work has emphasized achieving a good fit between people and technology to facilitate their safety, performance, and satisfaction. Dr. Shaver has expertise in safety information including the development and evaluation of warnings, instructions, and manuals; risk perception; human error and decision making; and the development and presentation of safety education and training materials.
Dr. Shaver holds a Ph.D. in Ergonomics Psychology from North Carolina State University and a M.S. in Human Factors Psychology and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Idaho. Dr. Shaver is an affiliate assistant professor of psychology at the University of Idaho. Dr. Shaver is a full member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) where he has been an active member of the HFES Safety & Forensic Professional Technical Groups. Dr. Shaver is also a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535.3 Subcommittee on Criteria for Safety Symbols.
Josh M. McDaniel, Ph.D.
Dr. McDaniel is an ethnographer and science editor who specializes in technology development and adoption, as well as natural resource management. He has over 13 years of field experience in social science research using an array of qualitative and quantitative methods, including: ethnography, participant observation, structured and semi-structured interviewing, surveys/questionnaires, and stakeholder analysis.
Recently, Dr. McDaniel, as part of his work as science editor for Advances in Fire Practice, has been examining the use of technology and science in wildland firefighting. Dr. McDaniel has been using ethnography to observe how new user technologies are being used in the field - identifying challenges in the user interface, and barriers to communication between project scientists and field personnel.
He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida.
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