Optimizing Collaboration and Experimentation
Valerie Gawron
May 2011
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Human-systems integrator Valerie Gawron is always looking for ways to maximize the human/technology connection. Her work on collaboration and experimentation shows how. |
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Writer and international traveler Valerie Gawron loves to explore different places, investigate alternate ideas, and meet new people. These qualities, paired with her multiple advanced degrees, match up well for her job as a human-systems integrator in MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), the FFRDC for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Before coming to MITRE in 2007, Gawron spent many years designing, testing, and evaluating systems for government, military, and private organizations. Her work has ranged across all types of human factors engineering projects including fielding computer-aided engineering tools; evaluating security systems in airports and embassies; conducting research in human performance optimization; directing accident reenactments; and testing helmet-mounted displays and night-vision goggles.
Improving Multiagency Mission Effectiveness
Shortly after coming to MITRE, Gawron became the co-director of a three-year, corporate-wide strategic initiative called the Collaborative Experimental Environment (CEE). The MITRE-developed CEE is a rapidly reconfigurable distributed environment that is used to measure the coordination and effectiveness of the responses of government agencies. The goal of the CEE is to improve multiagency coordination after catastrophic events such as the Sept. 11 attacks or Hurricane Katrina.
Key to the success of the CEE is that its activities are not restricted to one conference room or lab. In addition, the environment uses many different resources such as operational personnel, operational data, scenario generation tools, models and simulations, operational systems, and interoperability infrastructures of multiple locations to provide a more complete picture of the event.
After the CEE development was in place, Gawron and the CEE team conducted several experiments. "The first two experiments quantified the effectiveness of a common operational picture among FAA, DoD, DHS, the Department of Justice, airlines, and the Canadian aviation authority on airspace security. As a result, all the participating organizations made changes to airspace threat-response procedures," says Gawron.
Collaborative Experimental Environment (CEE)
MITRE developed the CEE to be a rapidly reconfigurable distributed environment. It is used to:
- understand the effects of policies, procedures, and technologies on multi-agency operations
- provide an environment for multi-agency collaboration experiments
- produce data that will empower better-informed policy decisions
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"The third experiment evaluated the effectiveness of a joint planning tool on coordinating unmanned aircraft systems [UAS] for pre- and post-hurricane landfall surveillance. As a result, FEMA was identified as the central authority for UAS prioritization during all emergencies, a procedure that was used during the U.S. support to Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010."
Another experiment examined federal, state, local, and private industry's response to a pandemic influenza. "In this case, the Centers for Disease Control changed how it interacts with the FAA during a pandemic," she says.
The fifth experiment examined the impact and response to a cyber attack. "We identified the issues involved in maintaining the national airspace system during a cyber attack. This was the first time that the FAA, DoD, and DHS had worked together on mission assurance in airspace security."
The immediate and positive impact of CEE has been very gratifying for Gawron. "It's wonderful seeing CEE being used in the work program now and knowing that I was part of the team that developed the capability," she says.
"I like working with cross-center, multi-disciplinary teams to solve the hard questions—safety, security, effectiveness across all our sponsors. Being able to work with diverse teams toward a common goal is the best part of MITRE for me."
Post CEE, Gawron is leading a large experiment of 512 pilots evaluating airport infrastructure standards for low visibility approaches. She is also a technology integrator for MITRE's Next Generation Air Transportation System research.
Personal Notes
While her efforts on the CEE have taken much of her time the past three years, Gawron continues to be both a prolific writer and avid traveler. She has written more than 300 technical publications including the second edition of the Human Performance, Workload, and Situation Awareness Handbook. The publications reflect both her diverse work experience and her educational achievements, which include three master's degrees and a doctorate.
In addition to her career-based writing, Gawron has penned two books of a personal nature. The first, 2001 Hearts: The Jane Gawron Story, is about the last year of her mother's life and is used to teach patient safety in medical schools. Sixty-Nine Weddings and a Not Knot is a humorous recounting of all the weddings in which she's been a member of the wedding party.
She is also working on: Stories of My Life, The World Through My Eyes and a novel, The Melding, because, she says "so many people have told me to write one."
Always eager to explore new places, Gawron travels frequently in both a personal and professional capacity. "I've been to 110 countries," she says. "Much of my work is directed toward enhancing safety, focusing on issues such as safety shoes for dockworkers in India and hearing protection for mine workers in Namibia. I also focus on education initiatives. This may include giving a guest lecture on situational awareness in Stockholm or one on workload measures in London."
On her most recent trip, Gawron spent three weeks in South and West Africa. After she returned, she shared her photos and travel stories with her MITRE colleagues during a lunchtime seminar. "That leaves just 67 more countries to visit from the original list that I drew up in 1972," she says.
—by Kay M. Upham
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