NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Academy offered its fifth knowledge-capture course ‘Human Factors: Learning from the Past and Looking to the Future with Dr. Cynthia Null and Colleagues.’ Thirty-two students gathered in the Science Technology I Building at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., recently to participate in this unique learning experience.

Null, the NESC discipline expert (NDE) for this course, assembled a diverse team of experts in the field of human factors. Topics included human characteristics and capabilities, development of in-space systems, engineering new systems, procedure development, maintenance and manufacturing, lessons learned from mishap investigations, control center design and ground operations.



Top: The recent graduating class from the fifth course, “Human Factors: Learning from the Past and Looking to the Future with Dr. Cynthia Null and Colleagues.,’ was held recently in FairFax, Va. The courses are sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.

Null’s human factors course became available in late January 2007 as an online Web-based course for those interested in taking it in a self-paced mode. The four previous courses, given by Henry Rotter (Active Thermal Control and Life Support Systems), George Hopson (Space Propulsion Systems), Robert Kichak (Power and Avionics) and Cornelius Dennehy (Satellite Attitude Control Systems), are also currently available online. Students may register for these courses on the NESC Academy Web site located at http://www.nescacademy.org.

Null currently serves as the NDE for human factors at NESC. Since 1997, she has been the base research and technology program manager for aviation operating systems at Ames. Prior to coming to NASA, she served as executive director for the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and as an associate professor at the College of William and Mary.

The NESC Academy was established to capture, share and preserve the lifetimes of experience and knowledge of NASA’s senior scientists and engineers; to guide the next generation of NASA scientists and engineers as they develop expertise in technical problem solving; and to foster interest in NASA careers. NESC, the National Institute of Aerospace, and CIBER partner to design, develop and deliver these three-day classroom experiences led by selected NDEs.

The Academy will offer a total of 11 courses by September 2008, each focusing on a specific discipline area, such as flight sciences, propulsion, robotic operations, and materials. The next course is scheduled for March 12-15, 2007, and features Michael Aguilar and colleagues on the topic of software. For more information about the NESC Academy, please visit http://www.nescacademy.org.

NESC/Marsha Gibson