Nancy Dorighi/NASA Hello. This is Nancy Dorighi at NASA Ames. I'm a computer engineer and have worked in flight simulation, human factors research, virtual environments, and currently am deputy project manager for a Air traffic control tower simulator that will soon be built here. Will air traffic control change? What are you working on in that area? Yes, air traffic control needs to change because more and more planes are in the air and need to use the airport facilities. We have to come up with more efficient use to airspace and airport surface. Computers are good at this. They can examine millions of possible combinations of things, and tell you the best one in just a matter of seconds. Will there be less and less need for humans involved in air traffic control, will computers do it all? Good question! We will have humans involved for a long long time. Computers only know as much as they are programmed to know. Humans perhaps can't remember as much as a computer can store, but humans can reason and project, and make decisions based on less that perfect data. Humans will do more monitoring of air traffic, computers will suggest the best altitude, speed, heading, etc. based on conditions. ********** What actually do you do - we are in middle school. When I first started working here, I wrote computer programs that helped run a flight simulator. Programs are needed to tell the computer what to do when, and how to compute the forces for the particular airplane you are simulating. Can you give us an idea of the kind of experiments that you do? When I was working in virtual environments, we were studying what characteristics of a head-mounted display system are required to do 3D tracking. That means manipulating a control to follow an object that is moving in 3D.This is important for remote control such as space assemble. We studied black & white vs. color displays, use of textures to enhance the depth perception, the minimum display resolution ********** What do they do with your research? The research I did in human factors will someday help people who design displays do a better job. For example, in the future, airplane pilots will have better cockpit displays than they do now. They'll be easier and faster to interpret. Here we come up with new ideas and test them to see if they are better. Then industry takes the ideas and puts them into practice. With the research you do for projects so far in the future - do you ever start a project and then funding gets cut off? Yes, unfortunately this does happen sometimes. It is very disappointing, but sometimes such decisions are for the best.While the Space Shuttle was being developed, there was less money at NASA for other types of work. Sometimes, what sounded like a good idea, ends up being impractical or costly. It takes a strong leader to make tough decisions to cut those kinds of projects. Do other companies also hire you to do research? No, I just do research for NASA. However, private companies do research too. ********** What don't you enjoy about what you do... what are the hard parts and why? Some of the things that are not enjoyable are putting up with bureaucracy and politics. The other thing that is hard is trying to do important work, but not getting enough money from Congress to do it. The NASA budget that must be approved by Congress each year, has a big influence on how much we can do. It pays for people and computers and training, and all sorts of things. Lately, like most everywhere, NASA has not received enough money to do everything we would like to do. When projects get cut off is it just a waste of time and money spent? No, not at all. There is usually some knowledge that comes from any research. Often, it will be applicable to some other project, so it will not be a total loss. ********** What other type of company could you work for with your background and do other people do similar work but for private companies? I could probably work for any company that is involved with computers. Private companies do not expect you to walk right in and know everthing about their systems right away. There is always initial training, you just have the have the foundation. There are more people doing this type of work in private companies than working directly for the government. In fact, here at NASA, we have many "contractors" who work right along with us. They are people who are employed by private companies, and who help the government employees. ********** Do you help plan training sessions for pilots on new technology? That's a good question! No, personally I do not plan training for pilots. However, I am aware of another research area called "Fatigue Counter-Measures" in which pilot training takes place here. Fatigue counter-measures has to do with ways pilots can combat being tired on long-haul flights such as over the oceans. Pilots are actually taught to take catnaps while the co-pilot stays awake, during the enroute part of the trip. They are also taught how to prepare sleep-wise before and after a flight, and when to eat. Does what pilots eat affect how awake they are? What kinds of things have they found out that can keep a pilot awake on long flights? ********* Are you affiliated with any of the current Mars projects? No, but they sound very interesting. I read today in the newspaper that we will be able to get daily weather reports from Mars over the Internet, when the Mars orbiters arrive there. I believe it will be sometime in 1997. Does anybody know for sure? Yes, we know. the Mars rover is landing on July 4, 1997 Do you think they plannned it that way? One will land and gather rock samples, and the other will orbit and map the entire surface of Mars. Yes, we know. The Pathfinder lands July 4th, 1997. But we don't know when the Mars Global Serveyer lands. We chatted with another women of NASA before - she designs the laser for the Global Surveyor. Do you know how long it takes to make one rotation around Mars? We do Nope! You've got me. How long? We would like to know how long it takes to make one rotation around Mars? 90 days 90 days ? is that for a full mapping? ********** Who cautioned you not to take too hard math classes and why? I must admit, my teachers were NOT the ones. They were very encouraging. I was refering to friends and their parents. Have you always worked at NASA? What kind of educatoin do you have? Yes, I started here when I graduated from college. I have a B.S. in mathematics, and an M.S. in Computer Engineering. I was able to get the second degree while I worked here, by going to school part-time. What kinds of activities do you think we should be involved with as 11 and 12 year olds if we would like to be computer specialists when we grow up? I would say just do your best to learn what they teach you in school: math, science, reading and writing. Also, try to get as familiar as possible with the computer. Do your writing assignments on the computer. When you go to high school, take all the classes that are "college prep." **********