Eric Vorm, Ph.D. is a cognitive systems engineer and independent defense consultant specializing in human-machine teaming, AI trust, and the human factors of technology adoption. He is the founder and principal of ES Vorm & Associates, LLC.
Over a 20-year Navy career, Dr. Vorm served in scientific and operational leadership roles across the Department of Defense. He enlisted in the Navy in 2005 as a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman assigned to Second Marine Division. He deployed to Iraq with Marine Special Operations Command in 2009. He was commissioned as an Aerospace Experimental Psychologist in 2012, completed flight training and earned his wings of gold in 2013. He served in a variety of roles across the RDT&E enterprise, including as the Deputy Director of the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Evaluation Team Lead for DARPA's Explainable AI (XAI) program, Design of Experiments Lead for DARPA's Enhanced Design for Graceful Extensibility (EDGE) program and as Capabilities Portfolio Manager for the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Autonomy Community of Interest. He retired from active duty January 2026 as the Senior Cognitive Systems Engineer at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
Dr. Vorm's work focuses on the interaction layer of technology: interface strategy and design, interaction architecture, determining how intelligent systems communicate with operators, where they fit within larger human workflows, and what determines whether a capability gets used in the field or what may hinder its adoption. Eric developed the Intelligent Systems Technology Acceptance Model (ISTAM) and has published extensively on explainability, transparency, and human-autonomy teaming.
Dr. Vorm also brings extensive experience translating complex technical and scientific content for senior military leaders, program executives, and policy audiences. He an expert in turning dense research findings into language that resonates with the priorities of decision-makers.
He holds a B.S. in Psychology from Indiana University, an M.S. in Experimental Psychology from University of North Texas, and a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from Indiana University. He holds an active Top Secret/SCI clearance.