Andy Schaudt

Current Positions

• Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Management
• Chief of Staff, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

Education

• M.B.A., Virginia Tech
• M.S. Human Factors Psychology, University of Idaho
• B.S. Psychology, University of Idaho

Biography

Andy Schaudt is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business, and the Director of Life Sciences at Rimkus Consulting Group. For Pamplin, Schaudt teaches coursework on Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship and Executive Tech Strategy. For Rimkus he supervises the operations and productivity of the Life Sciences proactive business units (medical device, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, sports and fitness, usability, and the human performance laboratory).  A devoted human experience enthusiast, he has spent his career learning about the intricacies of human behavior and how best to apply these findings to improve the design of products, services, and strategic business decisions. He has done this work for a wide spectrum of organizations across numerous industries,  ranging from startups to billion-dollar enterprises.  

Prior to his current roles, Mr. Schaudt was an Assistant Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech and the Chief of Staff for the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Before that, Mr. Schaudt spent time as the President and Chief eXperience Officer (CXO) of the web-presence marketing firm Post Launch in Las Vegas, NV, as well as the Director of Usability Services at the MedStar Institute for Innovation in Washington D.C.

Schaudt earned his M.B.A. from Virginia Tech, and his M.S. in Human Factors Psychology from the University of Idaho. Schaudt has over 150 publications, technical reports, and professional presentations/lectures. His work has been featured in TV and digital media outlets including Wired, Business Insider, USA Today, Washington Post, CNN, Modern Healthcare, and various others. He and his work have also been featured in documentaries, most recently the feature film “Autonomy” from executive producer Malcolm Gladwell and director Alex Horwitz. 

In 2001, Schaudt received the Phil Mohan Award for Excellence in Academic Research at the University of Idaho. Schaudt also received the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Presentation Excellence Award in November of 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 won the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award. In addition, Schaudt and team members were awarded Virginia Tech's ICAT Innovation Award in 2019 for their vehicle design work during industry funded automated vehicle research. And most recently, Schaudt was awarded the Robert T. Sumichrast Outstanding Faculty Fellow Award by VT's Apex Center for Entrepreneurs. 

Previous Positions

• Virginia Tech | Assistant Professor of Practice
• Virginia Tech Transportation Institute | Chief of StaffPost Launch | President and Chief eXperience Officer (CXO)
• Wine Clubs USA, LLC | Co-founder & Partner
• Free Websites Las Vegas, LLC | Co-founder & Partner
• MedStar Institute for Innovation | Director of Usability Services & Senior Advisor
• Virginia Tech Transportation Institute | Senior Research Associate & Research Associate
• Daimler Chrysler | Human Factors Intern
• Idaho Visual Performance Laboratory, University of Idaho | Graduate Research Assistant
• Battelle | Human Factors Intern

Recent Press/Media

• Hoag & Co Podcast: #152-Andy Schaudt, Program Director, Automated Vehicle Systems
• Appearance in documentary feature film “Autonomy” from executive producer Malcom Gladwell and director Alex Horwitz, 2019. IMDB Page and Movie Trailer
• Wired Magazine: Want to Teach Self-Driving Vehicles to Talk?

Awards & Honors

•  Recognition of Teaching Excellence for Undergraduate Research, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, VT, 2022
• Robert T. Sumichrast Outstanding Faculty Fellow Award, Apex Center for Entrepreneurs, Virginia Tech, 2022
• National Distinction & Outstanding Contributor, 2021, Virginia Tech
• Innovation Award: ICAT Creativity and Innovation Day, Virginia Tech, 2019. Awarded to VTTI interdisciplinary design team of the self-driving car seat suit: Andy Schaudt, Matthew Moeller, Josh Skole, Zack Crane.
• Top 10 of 2014 Med Device Online, "A Human Factors Engineering Primer for Medical Device Development"
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Arch T. Colwell Merit Award, 2008
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Presentation Excellence Award, 2007 & 2006
• Graduate Student Association Teaching Excellence Award, University of Idaho, 2002
• Phil Mohan Award:  Academic Research Excellence, University of Idaho, 2001

Selected Publications

• Schaudt, W.A., Russell, S., & J.M. Owens (2019). The Role of Human Factors in the Design of Automated Vehicle External Communication. In G. Meyer & S. Beiker (Eds.), Road Vehicle Automation 6. Springer International Publishing AG. ISBN 978-3-030-22932-0, DOI 978-3-030-22933-7_4.
• Schaudt, W.A., and Hernandez, A. (2014).  Preventing medication errors: Through the proactive application of systems thinking and human factors engineering. Journal of the British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians, 25(3), pp. 6-11.
• Bowman, D.S., Schaudt, W.A., & Hanowski, R.J. (2012). Advances in Drowsy Driver Assistance Systems through Data Fusion. In A. Eskandarian (Ed.), Handbook of Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 896-912. Springer-Verlag London Ltd.
• Abts, N. & Schaudt, A. (2015, February). How Medtech Companies Can Reduce Costs And Increase Revenue Through Human Factors. Med Device Online. Retrieved from http://www.meddeviceonline.com/doc/how-medtech-companies-can-reduce-costs-and-increase-revenue-through-human-factors-0001