The Aerospace Cognitive Engineering (ACE) Lab, led by NASA, aims to develop and demonstrate methods to improve the design and evaluation of complex, safety-critical automation systems. The lab's methods focus on helping to clearly define the tasks and associated performance metrics for the automation functions and predict interaction performance based on models of human and system performance. The ACE Lab's tools include the Automation Design and Evaluation Prototyping Environment (ADEPT), a tool combining formal analysis techniques with a graphical interface editor and automatic code generator to create part-task simulations. The ACEL-RATE (Aerospace Cognitive Engineering Lab Rapid Automation Test Simulator) is an adaptable fixed-base aircraft simulator focused on the investigation of pilots and increasingly automated aircraft systems.