Jennifer Serne

Dr. Jennifer Serne is an Associate Professor and Program Director for the Master of Safety and Health Management program. As an academic, she is known for her research on accident causation, using storytelling to increase empathy and learning from accidents, and the role of cognitive bias in post-incident analysis. She has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and a Master of Science in Safety Science. 

Academic and Professional Experience 

• Central Washington University: Serne has been at CWU since 2018, initially as an Assistant Professor before promotion to Associate Professor in 2024. In addition to her faculty duties, she has directed the university's undergraduate and graduate safety programs and has served as the chair of the university's Safety Council since 2019. She is also the Faculty Advisor for the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) student section.
• Industry and government: Before her academic career, Dr. Serne accumulated over two decades of safety related experience, primarily in regulatory roles. These roles included serving as the Radiation Safety Officer and Assistant Director of Research Assurances at Washington State University and working as a health physicist for the Washington State Department of Health. She also held roles related to emergency response, including training as the Public Information Officer at the state EOC for radiological emergencies, and responding to major disasters and mass fatality events as a contractor. 
• Consulting: Serne is known for her reanalysis of fatal occupational accidents, civil cases, crowd crushes, occupied building collapses, fatal medical errors, assembly occupancy fire disasters, and serious aviation accidents. In addition to her own proprietary accident analysis method-FEATHER, she is proficient in a variety of accident analysis methodologies including: Accimap, HFACS, Bowtie, RCA, FMEA, Probabilistic Fault/Event Trees, ConCA, STAMP, FRAM, CREAM, CAST, MORT, PHA, Barrier Analysis, Change Analysis, HAZOP, HRA, and advanced interviewing techniques. 
• Raconteuse Learning. Building on her research, Dr. Serne developed the concept of Raconteuse Learning, a methodology she teaches through her consulting work. This approach uses storytelling, research methods, and humble inquiry to help safety professionals and organizations reduce cognitive bias during accident investigations. 
  

Teaching Philosophy  

Dr. Serne has developed content for 13 courses in the health and safety program in all three modalities- in person, hybrid, and online. She teaches courses covering a broad spectrum of topics, including those covering Hazardous Materials Management, Fire Safety, Incident Investigation and Analysis, Emergency Response and Preparedness, Construction and Manufacturing Safety, Systems Safety, Ergonomics and Human Factors, and Statistics and Research Methodology.  

Dr. Serne focuses her courses on building a mix of leadership skills, people skills, and technical skills so that students graduate with a strong foundation in technical and scientific concepts as well as the skillset needed to build relationships with workers and understand the challenges they face in the workplace. To achieve this goal, her courses focus on innovative active learning, student presentations, and using applied projects that reflect the real-world tasks safety professionals perform in the field. 

Courses Taught 

• SHM 184 Safety and Storytelling 
• OSHM 301 Fundamentals of Safety and Health Management 
• OSHM 323 Construction Safety and Health 
• OSHM 325 General Industry Safety and Health
• OSHM 351 Incident Analysis and Learning 
• SHM 352 Systems and Design
• OSHM 371 Emergency Management, Planning and Preparedness 
• OSHM 377 Hazardous Materials Management 
• OSHM 379 Management of Facility Hazards and Fire Safety
• OSHM 470 Safety in Complex Sociotechnical Systems
• OSHM 472 Ergonomics and Human Factors
• SHM 480 Industrial Hygiene Laboratory
• OSHM 481 Evolving Issues in Occupational Safety and Health Management  
• OSHM 485 Occupational Safety and Health Management Capstone I
• OSHM 486 Occupational Safety and Health Management Capstone II
• OSHM 490 Co-op Education 
• SHM 582 Graduate Research Methods 
• SHM 700 Graduate Research Project 

Research  

Dr. Serne is well known for her engaging presentations and frequently receives invitations to speak at various conferences across the U.S. on topics related to her expertise in accident investigation and event learning. Her research pursuits focus on Human and Organizational Performance and Resilience Engineering and emphasizes understanding organizational systems rather than simply blaming individuals for accidents. Her work promotes appreciation for worker expertise and building capacity within organizations to deal with the normal day-to-day variance in conditions and performance.

Her specific research interests include: 

• The influence of accident causation models on event learning
• Attribution theory and cognitive biases in accident investigations 
• The application of storytelling and perspective-taking in accident analysis 
• Evaluating worker decision making using local rationality
• Cognitive diversity in investigation teams
• Increasing empathy in investigations
• Human behavior during emergencies 
• The influence of blame and reporting culture on safety outcomes 
• Automation dependency and mode confusion 

Dr. Serne is also passionate about mentoring student research. In addition to revising the undergraduate curriculum to include Sr. capstone projects in the Symposium of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE), she has successfully supervised the completion of twenty-two qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods graduate research projects that explore a variety of important topics in contemporary safety. 

Selected Research, Presentations, and Publications

• Dissertation: Serne, J. N. (2024). Attributing Cause for Occupational Accidents in Construction: A Descriptive Single Case Study(Doctoral dissertation, Grand Canyon University). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/attributing-cause-occupational-accidents/docview/3156034161/se-2
• Serne, J. (2025, June). Storytelling Tools for Increased Learning. In The 31^st Annual Community of Human and Organizational Learning Annual Learning Conference. Community of Human and Organizational Learning
• Serne, J. (2025, June). Keynote at 2025 Blue Mountain Occupational Safety and Health Conference. In Blue Mountain Safety Conference. SHARP Alliance, Oregon OSHA, and employers/employees form Northeast Oregon.
• Serne, J. (2025, May). Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling. In 2025 Pacific Northwest Safety Symposium. The Puget Sound Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals.
• Serne, J. (2025, March). Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling. In Bay Area Safety Symposium. San Francisco Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals.
• Serne, J. (2024, November). Storytelling Tools for Increased Learning. In Community of Human and Organizational Learning Monthly Webinar. Community of Human and Organizational Learning.
• Serne, J., &  Bliss, M., (2024). Information Design in the Hierarchy of Controls Diagram, Professional Safety, October 2024.
• Serne, J. (2024, June). We Think We know What Happened- Cognitive bias in investigations.. In 30th Annual Community of Human and Organizational Learning Annual Learning Conference. Community of Human and Organizational Learning
• Serne, J. (2024, April). We think we know what happened... bias in accident investigations. In ASSP Puget Sound Chapter April 2024 Meeting. ASSP.
• Serne, J. (2023, August). We Think We Know What Happened -Cognitive Bias and Incident Investigations for data centers. EHSxTech Data Center Event. Antea Group. August 29, 2023.
• Serne, J. (2023, June). Better Investigations Through Storytelling Parts I and II. In 29th Annual Learning Conference. Community of Human and Organizational Learning.
• Serne, J., Dang, H., & Tafazzol, M. (2023, June). Virtual Reality Safety Training Assessment in Construction Management and Safety and Health Management Programs . 2023 ASCE International Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE) Conference in Corvallis, Oregon.
• Virtual Reality Safety Training Potentials, Benefits, and Best Practices for Construction Workers Department of Labor & Industries Safety & Health Investment Projects (SHIP) Grant Training and Education Development Total SHIP Funding Requested $ 174,528.5 Submitted September 2022
• Serne, J. (2022). Jennifer Serne Success Story. In Safety Success Stories (p. 80). Book Chapter. Safety differently.
• Third-Party Efficacy Study HumuloVR Safety Training, HumuloVR, (2022). https://humulo.com/case-studies/efficacy-study
• Serne, J. (2022, March 10).Variability In Human Performance: From Protecting And Detecting To Accepting. Bay Area Safety Symposium.
• Serne, J. (2022, March).It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Evaluating Decision-Making During Incident Analysis, Ohio Safety Conference and Expo. Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation.
• Serne, J. Vector Solutions Webcast: Cognitive Bias in Incident Investigations. September 16, 2021.
• Serne, J. “Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling Part 2: The Saga Continues” Meeting of the National Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, District of Columbia, June, 15 2021.
• Serne, J. & Dang, H. Effective Safety Protocols and Project Productivity Impacts for Construction Companies in Washington State During the COVID‐19 Pandemic. (2021) Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. CSCE (Annual Conference) Proceedings, (May, 27 2021), (Virtual).
• Serne, J. “Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling” May Meeting of the Central Florida Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, May 10, 2021.
• Serne, J.N. (2021, March 31). Human Factors in Communications. [Sponsored Webinar]. American Society of Safety Professionals.
• Serne, J.N. How Could They Be So Stupid?! Objectively Evaluating Human Error. [Conference Presentation]. 2021 Virtual Arizona Health and Safety Summit. (2021, March 16-18).
• Acosta, M., Brossia, C., Gantt, R., Kormaze, S., Serne, J.N. (2021, March 10). Human & Organizational Performance (H.O.P.) Track HOP Panel Discussion. [Invited Panel Member]. 2021 Virtual Bay Area Safety Symposium.
• Serne, J. “Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling” Meeting of the National Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, District of Columbia, February 18, 2021  
• Serne, J. & Martin, D.W. (2020) A Gender-Based Analysis of Conflict Management Styles for Construction Management Students. Serne, J. & Martin, D.W. (2020) A Gender-Based Analysis of Conflict Management Styles for Construction Management Students. Journal of Business Diversity, 20(5)  
• Serne, J. “Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling” Meeting of the Arizona Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, Phoenix, AZ, November 6, 2020 
• Cognitive Bias in Accident Investigations (How it Happens & How to Avoid It). Vector Solutions Webcast. Oct 13, 2020 
• J, Knowles J.M., Hawk, M.A., Fenimore K.L., Rawls, E.R., Rajendran, R. (2020). Safety Management: Development of Steel Manufacturing Plant Specific Safety Plan Case Study.  IAST Safety First, September 2020.  
• Serne, J., Session Four in a Series of four podcasts with Jeff Dalto of Vector Solutions Vector Solutions Recorded Discussion: Human Factors: Helping Employees Make Decisions that Don’t Lead to Incidents. August 25, 2020.
• Serne, J., Session Three in a Series of four podcasts with Jeff Dalto of Vector Solutions Vector Solutions Recorded Discussion: Human Factors: Why Human Decisions Sometimes Lead to Incidents. August 17, 2020.
• Serne, J., Session Two in a Series of four podcasts with Jeff Dalto of Vector Solutions Vector Solutions Recorded Discussion: Guarding Against Bias in Accident Investigation. August 10, 2020.
• Serne, J., Session One in a Series of four podcasts with Jeff Dalto of Vector Solutions Vector Solutions Recorded Discussion: Bias When Conducting Accident Investigations. August 4, 2020.
• Serne, J., “It seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Evaluating Decision Making during Incident Analysis" Meeting of the National Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, District of Columbia, June 11, 2020.
• Serne, J. & Martin, D.W. Gender-Based Analysis of Conflict Management Styles for Construction Management Students. (2020) American Society for Engineering Education. ASEE (Annual Conference) Proceedings, (June, 22 2020), (Virtual). 
• Serne, J. “We Think We Know What Happened, How Cognitive Bias Can Negatively Affect Accident Investigations” Meeting of the National Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, District of Columbia, May 7, 2020  
• Serne, J. “Better Accident Investigations Through Storytelling” 2020 Arizona Health and Safety Summit, Phoenix, AZ, March 17, 2020.  
• Serne, J. “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the time! Naturalistic Decision Making in Accidents" Bay Area Safety Symposium, American Society of Safety Professionals, San Ramon, CA, March 4, 2020 
• Serne, J. “We Think We Know What Happened, How Cognitive Bias Can Negatively Affect Accident Investigations” Meeting of the Lower Columbia Basin Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, Richland, WA, January 8, 2020 
• Serne, J. “We Think We Know What Happened, How Heuristics and Cognitive Bias Can Hinder Accident Investigations” Northwest Occupational Health Conference, Bend, Oregon, October 24, 2019 
• Serne, J. "Systems Thinking In Accident Investigation "ASSP Puget Sound Professional Development Conference, Ellensburg, Washington, May 3, 2019 
• Serne, J. "When the Music Stops: Nightclub Egress in Emergencies" Bay Area Musician's Partnership In partnership with BSI, Oakland California, December 5 2016 
• Serne, J. "Following the Magenta Line- Automation Dependency Awareness for Private Pilots" in association with Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Seattle, Washington, March 21, 2015 
• Serne, J. "Use of Radioiodine in the Treatment of Feline Hyperthyroidism - Do Radioactive Cats have 18 Half Lives?" American Society for Non-Destructive Testing - Northwest Chapter Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, March 9, 2013.  
• Serne, J. "Decommissioning Verification - When Good Decommissionings Go Bad" Organization of Agreement States - Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon, August 23, 2010 
• J. Serne, A. V. Mitroshkov, J. N. Serne, B. N. Bjornstad, V. L. LeGore, G. V. Last, H. T. Schaef, M. J. O'Hara, S. C. Smith, B. A. Williams, D.C. Lanigan, D.G. Horton, R.E. Clayton, C.F. Brown, K.E. Parker, I.V. Kutzyakov, C.W. Lindenmeier, J.M. Zacharia. Characterization of Vadose Zone Sediment: Uncontaminated RCRA Borehole Core Samples and Composite Samples. PNNL. Feb 1, 2002. 

Education 

• Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Grand Canyon University 
• M.S. in Safety Science: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, graduated with distinction 
• B.S. (Chemical Toxicology): The Evergreen State College 

Awards 

• CEPS Team Award 2024- 2025 
• CEPS Outstanding Teaching Award 2023- 2024
• CEPS Above and Beyond Award 2021-2022
• CEPS TEAM Award 2018 -2019

Professional Memberships: 

• The American Society of Safety Professionals 
• The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 
• The National Fire Protection Association 
• International Society of Air Safety Investigators 
• Community of Human and Organizational Learning 

Public and Professional Service:

• Central Washington Disability Services- Board of Directors President
• Central Washington University’s Campus Safety Council-Chair
• American Society of Safety Professionals CWU Student Section- Faculty Advisor
• Kittitas County Community Emergency Response Team- Member and Trainer

Outside of Academia

When not teaching or doing research you can find her cooking Cajun food, gardening, collecting antiques, wine tasting, attending electronic dance music events, training one of her six dogs, or riding one of her horses down the trail.