Barbara Burian, Ph.D.

Barbara Burian, the EAS Project Director, is a Senior Research Associate and works through the San Jose State University at the NASA Ames Research Center. Barbara is involved in research related to the design and development of emergency and abnormal checklists and procedures, particularly those related to potentially catastrophic emergencies such as in-flight fire, smoke and, fumes events. She also conducts research related to the use of automated procedures and intelligent agents on the flight deck and pilot weather training, knowledge and decision making.

Barbara is a private pilot and has a bachelor’s degree in Education from The Ohio State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in Psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She completed a pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral residency at the University of Florida and the University of Miami Medical Center, respectively. She was awarded Stanford/San Jose State University/NASA/ASEE Faculty Fellowships in 1999 and 2000. She left academia and 10 years of clinical practice, with a specialty in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, to work at the NASA Ames Research Center full-time in August 2000.

Key Dismukes, Ph.D.

Key Dismukes is Chief Scientist for Human Factors in the Human Factors Research & Technology Division at NASA Ames Research Center. His current research addresses cognitive issues involved in the skilled performance of pilots, their ability to manage challenging situations, and their vulnerability to error. Among the topics investigated by his research group are prospective memory (remembering to perform deferred intentions), management of attention in concurrent task performance, and training crews to analyze their own performance.

Previously, Dr. Dismukes was Director of Life Sciences at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He received his PhD in biophysics from Pennsylvania State University and received postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has published papers in basic and applied psychology, neuroscience, and science and social policy. He holds airline transport pilot, B737 and Citation type, and glider instructor ratings. The primary reason he holds a paying job is to support his addiction to flying sailplanes.

Benjamin A. Berman

Ben Berman is working with the research team on an evaluation of cognitive factors during air carrier accidents. He began this work at NASA Ames in late 2001. Ben is a pilot for a major U.S. air carrier. Before returning to the skies he served as the Chief of the Major Investigations Division of the National Transportation Safety Board. Earlier he was Chief of the Operational Factors Division (managing flight crew, air traffic control, and weather issues in accidents), an accident investigator, and a flight crew human factors researcher at the NTSB.

Ben holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with type ratings in the Boeing 737, Embraer 120, and Dornier 228. He received the A. B. degree summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard College in 1979. He and his wife, daughter, and puppy live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.