In order to move the nation's air traffic safely and efficiently, air traffic controllers need the right information at the right time. As a precursor to changes in air traffic control, the FAA wanted to establish the information needs of today's controllers.

Frank Durso, professor of Engineering Psychology at Georgia Tech, will discuss the current air traffic control system focusing on the workings of the familiar airport control tower. Relying on a variety of empirical methods aimed at uncovering the information needs of the controller, He'll talk about how needs vary as function of the aircraft and the controller position. The information displays that could provide the information may prove to be quite simple.

Durso received his Ph.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook and his B.S. from Carnegie-Mellon University. He was founding director of the University of Oklahoma's Human-Technology Interaction Center. Frank is senior editor of Wiley's Handbook of Applied Cognition and co-author of Stories of Modern Technology Failures and Cognitive Engineering Successes.

He is associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied and has served on several editorial boards and review panels for NSF and NASA. He is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), the APA, and the Association for Psychological Science. His research has been supported by NSF, DOE, and the FAA. His current research interests focus on cognitive and strategic factors responsible for managing and updating dynamic situations such as those found in air traffic control and health care.