Students and Research – An Exciting Path to Knowledge

By Kay Semion

Embry-Riddle is known for its unmatched research capability in aerospace fields, but it is also gaining recognition for wide-ranging research in fields like human factors, alternative energy, virtual languages, and more. What may not be as well known is that the university offers unparalleled research opportunities for students, including undergraduates.

On the following pages are profiles of Daytona Beach and Prescott students who are doing cutting-edge research, such as conducting a zero-gravity experiment with NASA, testing wind turbines in Colorado at the National Renewal Energy Lab, or designing living spaces for a future Mars settlement.

Indeed, there are so many exciting research projects that it is impossible to profile them all here. (See three profiles below.)

On both campuses, faculty members enthusiastically integrate students into research work.
“There is a laundry list of benefits,” says Albert Boquet, associate professor of human factors in Daytona Beach, who helped Sacha Duff design a unique experiment in medical studies. “It gives students a true picture of what they are studying. It gives them a depth of understanding they could not get in any other way. And it helps them stay current in their fields.”

It also helps undergraduate students get into graduate schools or land the jobs they really want. “Research is critical for students’ careers,” says Darris White, an associate professor in mechanical engineering.

Research can also help professors understand what students are interested in and thinking, to help them improve their performance in the classroom. In fact, Raynald Bedard, an assistant professor in aeronautical science in Prescott, invited Ryan Furtado to help him design a flight simulation program for the classroom that won notice at Microsoft Corporation. After Furtado’s graduation, Tyler Barnett is continuing the research.

Research by students often contributes well beyond campus. Students collaborate with professors on projects to advance aviation, such as testing aviation fuel alternatives or next-generation aircraft. They are working on high-security government projects that could save military and civilian lives. And they are engaged in research that could lead to revolutionary advances in space physics by opening windows to hundreds of galaxies.

At Embry-Riddle, research is part of the whle package for students that activates their minds and builds a strong foundation for their future.

Greg Igel

Sophomore and McNair scholar from Evergreen, Colo. Served five years in the U.S. Army as an air traffic controller. Was medically discharged and underwent extensive medical treatment for a traumatic brain injury received in a car crash. Studied computer graphics at Purdue University before transferring to Embry-Riddle to study human factors and systems. “I don’t want just the degree,” he says. “I want the skill.”

Project: Study of team coordination between pilots and air traffic controllers in Embry-Riddle’s Team Simulation and Gaming Laboratory; Daytona Beach campus.

Principal investigators: Elizabeth Blickensderfer and Jason Kring, assistant professors in human factors and systems.

Research purpose: Create better training systems in which air traffic controllers and pilots can improve communication and performance, which would increase airway safety and prevent runway incursions. Researchers have developed a simulated training system using high-end computers and low-cost gaming software. Research participants have air-traffic control and pilot backgrounds. Partners include Old Dominion University and the Simulated Systems Research Unit of the Army Research Institute in Orlando.

Challenges: Implementing measurable design, incorporating human factors into gaming system, and getting computers to speak to one another. Identifying and narrowing communication gaps between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Rewards: “I am learning how to set up an experiment and research the design. I am learning to write grants and do literature reviews,” Igel says. He notes that it is unusual for undergraduates to have as much access to research as is offered at Embry-Riddle.

Past experience: Igel used knowledge gained from his study of computer graphic design and prior involvement in survey development.

Career goal: A job in training for aviation or military, with a focus on working with men and women returning from war or combat with traumatic brain injury.

Tara Allen

Graduate student in human factors and systems at Daytona Beach campus, where in May she received her B.S. degree in human factors and psychology. She is from Brooksville, Fla. She was one of three paid summer interns in 2008 at 4 Frontiers, arranged through NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Florida Space Grant Consortium.

Project: Design of living space for a settlement on Mars for 4 Frontiers, a firm in New Port Richey, Fla. that aims to ultimately establish the first permanent, economically viable, and self-sustaining settlement on Mars.

Principal investigators: 4 Frontiers CEO Mark Homnick and Vice President Joseph Palaia, an architect.

Research purpose: Design interior spaces of a circular building in a proposed Mars settlement for a crew of 24 men and women. Determine dimensions of interior spaces for private suites, provide for maximum efficiency, and examine materials to use for furniture.

Challenges: Allen focused on both the design and the psychology of the design, “I wanted to make it unique to Mars, but resemble what you would have on Earth,” she said. The designs had windows onto the Mars landscape, lighter colors to make rooms look larger, pictures from home, and greenery, including edible plants. Beds were blow-up mattresses from Earth, and furniture was made of materials that could be grown in a Mars colony, such as bamboo.

Reward: Learning to think 15-20 years out.
Past experience: Allen used knowledge gained from Embry-Riddle courses dealing with direct human interaction in small spaces and human factors in space.

Career goal: Jobs that range from designing automobile interiors to amusement parks to space environments. An accomplished collegiate golfer, Allen also considers turning pro in the near future.

Sacha Duff

From Ormond Beach, Fla., a graduate student in human factors and systems, who earned a B.S. in human factors psychology in 2007.

Project: Application of human factors in the operating room, based on observation at Florida Hospital in Ormond Beach.

Principal investigator: Albert Boquet, associate professor and chair, human factors and systems, Daytona Beach campus.

Research purpose: Investigate if successful models to investigate error in aviation can be adapted for medical fields. Both have highly complex technical environments with different levels of experience. With medical supervision, Duff is observing and filming actual medical procedures in the operating room, namely laparoscopic removal of the gall bladder and open hernia repair. “Aviation is moving away from blaming the pilot in air accidents and toward looking at systematic causes of errors,” Duff says.

Challenges: Creating a classification system for types and causes of errors. Using diplomatic skills to build trust among operating-room personnel who worry about being blamed.

Reward: “The opportunity to pick an area and delve into it,” Duff says. “Human factors never made any sense to me until I started doing research.”

Past experience: Undergraduate research in single-pilot management, observing solo piloting needs and support mechanisms, and research in how adverse mental states affect human error in rotorcraft operations.

Career goal: Stay in academic research, possibly in medical fields but preferably in aviation.

Reprinted from Embry-Riddle’s magazine, The Leader