From plumbing the depths of the sea to exploring human minds

A stint as a submariner led James Callan to psychology and his own human factors company.

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

In the 1960s, in the midst of the Cold War, James Callan spent months at a time roving the shadowy depths of the world?s oceans in a windowless metal cylinder. Blind to what lay ahead or above, Callan?a navigator and engineer?and his U.S. Navy submarine crewmates relied on sonar equipment to slip past underwater obstacles.

For them, the success of their mission?and in some cases their own survival?depended on keeping a low profile. Their goal was to stay undetected.

'Our missions were based on the psychological challenge of stealth, of not being seen,' says Callan, who wasn?t yet a psychologist back then but is now a member of APA?s Div. 21

(Applied Experimental and Engineering). 'And how well you operated your sound equipment determined how successful you were. It was all about equipment and training.'

That interaction between the submarine?s hardware and human behavior became a source of endless fascination for Callan.

He grew preoccupied with how people?s interpretation of sonar enables subs to not only evade the enemy but also to avoid ramming boats, rocks?even whales?when surfacing.

'It?s all dark down there?completely opaque?so you have to listen for sound cues like the beats of a propeller or the biological sounds of sea life,' says Callan. 'It?s important to do that because you don?t want to hit anything and because your job is to locate other ships and submarines, both friendly and hostile. If you hear a hollow sound it might just be a tanker, but if it?s a fast-paced clip it could be a warship.'

Callan also noticed that the crew?s attention to indicator lights and warnings on control panels means the difference between a safe descent and a serious accident. During the infrequent lulls in his job duties during the ?60s, Callan contemplated ways of making the equipment easier for people to use.

Little did he know that 30 years later he?d start his own company based on that idea. Today his human factors company, Pacific Science and Engineering Group, is helping the Navy build simpler and safer seagoing equipment. And they?ve taken on a host of other projects, branching out into medical equipment design, traffic safety and workplace ergonomics.

'On a sub, the demands are so high and technical that it heightens your awareness of how dependent people are on the effectiveness, efficiency and reliability of this big machine, and vice versa,' says psychologist Carl Englund, PhD, who?s worked closely with Callan on applied psychological research for the Navy.

For Callan, the sub became a lab to study cognitive psychology and engineering design?a basis for a business that now improves the safety and usability of all types of vessels and machines, says Englund.

A meeting with psychology

The high-stakes, high-pressure world of owning a consulting business was not what Callan envisioned for himself as a young boy. Growing up in the small farming community of Altus, Okla., a bookish Callan spent his spare time reading such authors as J.D. Salinger and Herman Melville. But after majoring in English at the University of Oklahoma, he decided to join the Navy and 'see the world.'

As a Navy man, he spent 11 years on submarine missions in the waters off Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Iceland and Scotland, among other countries. But a chance meeting with his high school sweetheart from Altus, psychologist Joanne Callan, PhD, changed all that. They married and she introduced him to biological psychology?a field he viewed as ideal for pursuing his interest in people?s performance with equipment and machines.

It took him six years?the better part of his 30s?to earn his doctorate in biological psychology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. On completing it in 1976, Callan turned once more to the Navy to pursue his interest in improving Navy system performance.

Seizing a chance

Callan landed a post in the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center in San Diego, a city he was drawn to for its coastal beauty and Pacific Fleet submarine force. Working with one of his colleagues, psychologist Richard Kelly, PhD, Callan helped craft training programs on 'the mental mathematics of figuring out what it is you?re hearing on the sonar?what it is that other ships are doing.'

In another project, Callan explored the impact of sleep deprivation and stress on Navy officers. Callan also worked at the Navy Ocean Systems Center in San Diego, advising engineers as they built controls and displays for nuclear subs and other ships. But after a while he felt a little stymied by government bureaucracy and thought about striking out on his own.

He approached Kelly with a suggestion: 'Why not start our own human factors company?' Kelly leaped at the chance. 'Jim and I decided to expand outside the Navy and do something entrepreneurial where we could have more freedom, flexibility and self-determination in our work,' says Kelly. 'Our lab was going through some transitions, and this seemed like a good time to make a switch.'

With the financial support of their spouses?Kelly?s wife became the company?s accountant?he and Callan founded their San Diego-based consulting firm, Pacific Science and Engineering Group.

Growing the company

Starting the company wasn?t easy. Callan and Kelly knew little about business, so they had to learn as they went. There were growing pains. But the mental strength, task orientation and openness to risk Callan had honed during his submarine years saw him through the company?s beginning stages. He and Kelly started small, researching potential projects, writing proposals and taking on minor consulting jobs.

After a year, their efforts landed them their first big contract with the Navy. 'At first we were a little worried they?d bear a grudge because we left,' says Callan. But that was hardly the case. The Navy charged them with investigating the user-friendliness of new sonar and electronic equipment for nuclear submarines and Navy ships.

Over time, Callan and Kelly began taking on contracts outside the Navy. Among other projects, they?ve developed a software training program to help anesthetists monitor patients? vital signs, overhauled workers? shift schedules at a local water treatment plant, and compiled a U.S. Federal Highway Administration training packet to alert drivers to pedestrians and bikers that share the roads. Their company has expanded to 30 employees, among them eight doctoral-level psychologists.

'It?s competitive because we have to bid for projects, but it?s also been satisfying because we choose our own work problems and follow through on solving them,' says Callan.

The company continues expanding slowly, each year adding one or two more employees. One of their biggest tasks has been evaluating blood glucose monitors for diabetics.

In a report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, they noted that the diminishing size of the monitors? buttons makes them difficult for older people to press. The monitors? developers have re-engineered the design accordingly.

Boosting the company?s track record for successful projects is Callan?s encouragement of new ideas, says Kelly.

'When we?re starting a new project, Callan?s right out there encouraging brainstorming and giving everybody?s idea a chance,' Kelly says.

'He?s an excellent listener.' Maybe that?s due to the hours Callan once spent with his ear trained to the clicks and hollow thumps of approaching ships?the mental mathematics of listening.