FAA Center of Excellence Reviews First-Year Accomplishments

The FAA’s Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance held its annual business meeting at Wichita State University on November 7-9, 2017. The purpose of this meeting was to review first year accomplishments, discuss researcher progress and set a framework for future research activities.

Over the past 14 months, the COE has funded 32 research projects with two additional FAA funders—Flight Program Operations and Flight Standards—with more than $6 million in research funding secured for studies focused on Air Traffic Organization, Flight Program Operations and Flight Standards.

The COE created an Executive Committee with members from eight core institutions, including Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the University of Oklahoma, Wichita State University, Auburn University, Purdue University, The Ohio State University, University of North Dakota and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. It also successfully completed the first year of operation for the Industrial Advisory Board, led by Adacel and The Washington Consulting Group.

The COE was also represented at a number of events throughout the year, hosting of exhibit booths and presentations at outreach events such as ATCA Annual, ATCA Tech Symposium, NTAS, UAA and I-ITSEC conferences, in addition to the COE Research Expo Event held at FAA Headquarters in June 2017.

Year 2 follow-on and new research activities will focus on reducing training time and costs, as well as increasing the mission-readiness of FAA air transportation personnel. This will be achieved through prototype testing of the effectiveness of various training offerings through distance learning, mobile application and low-fidelity simulation deliveries. Training will also focus on incorporating solutions to address human factors issues, such as fatigue and speed of eye and brain responses. The Center’s Executive Committee and Industrial Advisory Board will provide ongoing support to the FAA to apply research recommendations to day-to-day operations.

For more information about the FAA’s Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance, please visit: https://coetthp.org.