Don Fisher

Research Interests

Professor Fisher is the director of the Human Performance Laboratory, a newly remodelled, 1000 square foot space easily accessible to older and younger adults. Sixteen students, 9 at the doctoral and 7 at the master's degree level, form the nucleus of the research team. Projects in the laboratory are ongoing in at least three different areas. Project MIDAS: The goal of Project MIDAS (Massachusetts Interactive Driving and Acoustic Simulator) is to test the safety and useability of many of the new technologies that will form the backbone of Intelligent Transportation Systems. The central element of this project, a new, half- million dollar driving simulator, is an actual car (Saturn) in which experimental participants sit, activating the controls (brake, accelerator, steering wheel, lights, etc.) just as they would normally. The research now being undertaken is focused on collision warning systems, electronic variable message signing (for advanced parking management systems), wrong way entries, and accidents at signalized left turn intersections. Project PROTO: The goal of Project PROTO is to develop the tools for rapidly prototyping the visual and auditory interface between users and new and evolving products such as audio remote controls, cellular phones, voice mail, ATMs and so on. Advanced eye tracking equipment can pinpoint at each moment in time where an individual is looking on a display. Project CARE: The goal of Project CARE (Cognitive Aging Research and Engineering), a campus wide effort, is to undertake the basic research needed to improve the physical and mental well-being of older adults. In our laboratory, studies of decision making, memory, learning and the visual system are currently underway. For example, in one project training techniques are being employed which promise to reduce greatly the time that it takes older adults to learn new material, to the point where the differences between older and younger adults may entirely disappear.

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Dr. Robert O. Andres has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in bioengineering. He is the president of Ergonomic Engineering, Inc., and regularly helps supervise and support students in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Program interested in occupational biomechanics, consumer products design, and workplace layout. Dr. Andres has published over twenty scientific papers in the leading ergonomics journals including Human Factors and The Journal of Biomechanics.

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