Research: (FOR MOST RECENT WORK, DOWNLOAD MY CV FROM LEFTHAND MENU)

MEDICAL SIMULATION 

I currently work under DoD TRICARE and the US Navy in supporting and evaluating a tri-service medical teams training program called TeamSTEPPS. This work is being conducted at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

I recently completed a project that I worked on with Dr. Mark Scerbo, investigating the comparative benefits of multimodal sensory feedback on skill acquisition with a medical simulator. By augmenting visual and haptic sensory information during virtual surgical training, we hope to better understand the effects of these sensory cues on psychomotor skill acquisition. In this study we are using a SensAble PHANTOM® Omni™ haptic device to provide touch feedback during a bone-drilling simulation, which is supported visually through software developed by SimQuest LLC. The research is sponsored by U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

SensAble PHANTOM® Omni™ haptic device  used for medical simulation research

In Fall 2008, Dr. Scerbo and I began researching the effects of simulator training on skill acquisition in the area of cranial drilling (craniotomy). This is another medical simulator study designed to improve both the surgical training process and the evaluation of surgical proficiency, specifically with regard to the drilling of burr holes in the skull in order to treat subdural hematoma (blood on the surface of the brain). This study will also incorporate simulator technology provided by SimQuest, LLC through funding by U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

REACTS LAB

I previously worked in Dr. Jim Bliss's REACTS lab (Research Environment for Alarms and Complex Task Simulation) studying distributed military training in conjunction with the Army Research Institute and Embry-Riddle University, where fireteams from different geographical locations link up in a controlled virtual environment and execute urban combat/rescue missions. After completing each mission, an after-action review (AAR) is held in order to analyze mission details.

Half-Life 2 platform for supporting distributed combat training simulations

SUMMER 2007 and PRIOR

This summer I worked with the ODU Computer Science Department, General Dynamics Corporation, and Joint Systems Integration Command (JSIC) to develop a Command and Control (C2) system evaluation interface for the Department of Defense. This system is intended to provide high-ranking DoD officials with vital information about various C2 projects under development in order to make informed decisions about funding and support.

I also assisted in the administration and analysis of a cognitive assessment battery for the US Navy SEALs this summer, in order to help identify those with the most potential for advanced elite special forces trainability.

Prior to this summer, my work focused on the study of auditory in-vehicle navigation technologies for older and younger drivers in Dr. Carryl Baldwin's DriveSim lab, using a GE Capital I-Sim driving simulator.

GE Captial I-Sim driving simulator used in the DriveSim lab