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Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation (2013)

Chapter: Appendix A: Committee Biographies

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
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Appendix A

Committee Biographies

Nancy T. Tippins (Chair) is senior vice president at Valtera, a division of the Corporate Executive Board. Her expertise includes the development and validation of selection tests and other forms of assessment for management and hourly employees and the design of performance management and leadership development programs. She has worked extensively with computer-based test administration, developing her first computer-administered test and test administration platform in 1991. Previously she worked in Fortune 100 companies developing and validating selection and assessment tools. She participated in the revision of the Principles for the Use and Validation of Personnel Selection Procedures and sits on committees to revise the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and the ISO 9000 standards for assessment. She is a member, fellow, and past president (2000-2001) of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a member of several private industry research groups. She has authored or co-authored articles on assessment and has served as associate editor for the Scientist-Practitioner Forum of Personnel Psychology and on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Psychology. She has an M.S. and a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Colin G. Drury is distinguished professor emeritus of industrial and systems engineering at University of Buffalo, State University of New York and president of Applied Ergonomics Group, Inc. Previously he was director of the Research Institute for Safety and Security in Transportation. His recent work focuses on the application of human factors techniques to inspection and maintenance processes, and he has published on industrial process control, quality control, aviation maintenance, security, and safety. He is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Ergonomics Society, the International Ergonomics Association, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. He received the Bartlett Medal of the Ergonomics Society and both the Fitts and Lauer Awards of the Human Factors Ergonomics Society. He received the Federal Aviation Administration’s Excellence in Aviation Research Award (2005) and the American Association of Engineering Societies’ Kenneth Andrew Roe Award (2006). He has an Honours B.Sc. in physics from the University of Sheffield, England, and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, England, in engineering production specializing in ergonomics.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
×

T. Mark Harrison (NAS) is distinguished professor of geochemistry in, and former chair of, the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at University of California, Los Angeles. His research areas include lithosphere tectonothermics, experimental and theoretical studies of magma transport, application of heat flow and diffusion theory to geological problems, development isotopic microanalysis, and planetary formation. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences, American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, Geological Society of Australia, and the Geochemical Society. He has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Day Medal of the Geological Society of America. He is a lifelong pilot and holds a commercial certificate with instrument and multi-engine ratings. He has a B.Sc. (Honors) from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in earth sciences from the Australian National University.

Christopher Hart is vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Previously he was a member of the NTSB, deputy director for Air Traffic Safety Oversight at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and FAA assistant administrator for the Office of Safety, System Safety. He is a licensed pilot with commercial, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, as well as an attorney. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association. He has a B.S. and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Paul F. Hogan is senior vice president and practice director of Federal National Security and Emergency Preparedness at The Lewin Group. He applies microeconomics, econometrics, cost-benefit analyses, statistics, and operations research methods to problems of health economics, labor supply, compensation, training, performance, military staffing and readiness, and cost measurement. His research in health economics include workforce studies and measures of Medicare and Medicaid payment accuracy. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and an M.S. in applied economics and finance from the University of Rochester.

Brian Norman is chief executive officer and founder of Compass Manpower Experts, LLC, and served recently as senior human resource advisor for the Changes for Justice Project, a U.S. Agency for International Development effort with the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia. Previously, he served as commander of the Air Force Manpower Agency, directing efforts to determine manpower requirements, develop programming factors, manage Air Force performance management programs, execute competitive sourcing initiatives, and conduct special studies and analyses. Prior to that, he served as deputy director of plans and integration, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, at Air Force Headquarters, where he guided strategic planning, visioning, and concepts of operation activities for Air Force manpower, personnel, and services. From 1995 through 2012, he served as a course director and adjunct professor at Ira P. Eaker College for Professional Development, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base. He has a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Missouri, an M.S. in systems management from the University of Southern California, and an M.S. in strategic studies from Air University.

Tonya L. Smith-Jackson is professor and chair of industrial and systems engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. She is founder and director of the Assessment and Cognitive Ergonomics Lab and co-director of the Safety Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction Labs. She is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society of Women Engineers. She is certified by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics. Her work has focused on

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
×

research, teaching, and service efforts to ensure processes and technologies are equitable and inclusive across cultures, genders, abilities, and generations. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Army Research Office, United Parcel Service, Toshiba Corporation of Japan, Carilion Clinic, and Carilion Biomedical Institute. She has a B.A. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in psychology/ergonomics from North Carolina State University.

William J. Strickland is president and chief executive officer of the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) in Alexandria, Virginia. Previously, he was a HumRRO vice president directing its Workforce Analysis and Training Systems Division. Before that, he served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a colonel. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), a past president of its Division of Military Psychology, and the Division’s representative on APA’s Council of Representatives. He currently serves on APA’s Policy and Planning Board and as a member-at-large on the APA Board of Directors. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Ohio State University.

Elmore M. Wigfall is a retired 36-year veteran of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Electronic Technology at Antelope Valley Community College, Lancaster, California. His FAA experience was in air traffic control technical operations, and he has held positions ranging from Air Traffic Systems Specialist (electronics technician) to Systems Management Office, Manager. He has more than 3,000 hours of FAA technical, management, and leadership training and has completed more than 150 hours of training in mediation and conflict resolution with practical application and experience conducting mediations in civil court cases. Currently, he volunteers with the California Academy of Mediation Professionals as a civil dispute mediator for small claims, limited jurisdiction, and civil harassment cases in the Los Angeles Superior Court System. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Central Oklahoma and an M.P.A. from California State University, Northridge.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
×
Page 93
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
×
Page 94
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2013. Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18357.
×
Page 95
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Within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Airway Transportation System Specialists ATSS) maintain and certify the equipment in the National Airspace System (NAS).In fiscal year 2012, Technical Operations had a budget of $1.7B. Thus, Technical Operations includes approximately 19 percent of the total FAA employees and less than 12 percent of the $15.9 billion total FAA budget. Technical Operations comprises ATSS workers at five different types of Air Traffic Control (ATC) facilities: (1) Air Route Traffic Control Centers, also known as En Route Centers, track aircraft once they travel beyond the terminal airspace and reach cruising altitude; they include Service Operations Centers that coordinate work and monitor equipment. (2) Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities control air traffic as aircraft ascend from and descend to airports, generally covering a radius of about 40 miles around the primary airport; a TRACON facility also includes a Service Operations Center. (3) Core Airports, also called Operational Evolution Partnership airports, are the nation's busiest airports. (4) The General National Airspace System (GNAS) includes the facilities located outside the larger airport locations, including rural airports and equipment not based at any airport. (5) Operations Control Centers are the facilities that coordinate maintenance work and monitor equipment for a Service Area in the United States.

At each facility, the ATSS execute both tasks that are scheduled and predictable and tasks that are stochastic and unpredictable in. These tasks are common across the five ATSS disciplines: (1) Communications, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers and pilots to be in contact throughout the flight; (2) Surveillance and Radar, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers to see the specific locations of all the aircraft in the airspace they are monitoring; (3) Automation, maintaining the systems that allow air traffic controllers to track each aircraft's current and future position, speed, and altitude; (4) Navigation, maintaining the systems that allow pilots to take off, maintain their course, approach, and land their aircraft; and (5) Environmental, maintaining the power, lighting, and heating/air conditioning systems at the ATC facilities. Because the NAS needs to be available and reliable all the time, each of the different equipment systems includes redundancy so an outage can be fixed without disrupting the NAS.

Assessment of Staffing Needs of Systems Specialists in Aviation reviews the available information on: (A) the duties of employees in job series 2101 (Airways Transportation Systems Specialist) in the Technical Operations service unit; (B) the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union of the AFL-CIO; (C) the present-day staffing models employed by the FAA; (D) any materials already produced by the FAA including a recent gap analysis on staffing requirements; (E) current research on best staffing models for safety; and (F) non-US staffing standards for employees in similar roles.

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