NASA Behavioral Health and Performance Research Element

When: Monday, June 22, 2015
Where: HBS 315
Time: 11:00 AM

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Blackwell Landon and Dr. Jason Schneiderman, NASA Johnson Space Center

Host: Prof. Ioannis Pavlidis

Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) Research Element is 1 of 6 elements in NASA’s Human Research Program. We have 3 major Risk areas: Teams, Sleep/Fatigue, and BMed (cognitive & psychiatric conditions). For current spaceflight missions, our goal is to maintain health and performance in the extreme, stressful conditions of space. Our focus for future missions is to keep a crew healthy and performing when they are in a confined, isolated vehicle for 2.5 years on a Mars mission. We are working to understand all the risks of future missions related to BHP, and developing tools to mitigate negative effects of these conditions.

Bio:

Dr. Lauren Blackwell Landon holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Oklahoma. She joined NASA in June of 2014, where she works in the Behavioral Health and Performance Element of the Human Research Program. In this current role, she researches Teams and Leadership issues specific to astronaut crews and spaceflight missions. Previous work has included experience on both the research and consulting aspects of IO jobs in the government, spanning topics as varied as selection, org culture/climate surveys, mentoring programs, training design and evaluation, coaching, and job analysis.

Dr. Landon has contributed to workforce-related projects for several government organizations including the Dept. of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Lab, FAA’s Human Factors Research Division, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Navy.  She is also a member of the SIOP, the Society of Human Resource Management, and the Association for Psychological Science. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and periodically acts as an adjunct professor, teaching research methods, statistics, and introductory psychology courses.

Jason Schneiderman is currently the Portfolio Scientist for the Behavioral medicine research portfolio within the NASA Behavioral Health and Performance Research Element at the Johnson Space Center.  He received his BS in Psychology from Stony Brook University and his PhD in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. His research has focused on brain imaging in people at risk and those with a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders including schizophrenia, PTSD, and traumatic head injury. At NASA his current work focuses on maintaining and promoting cognitive and behavioral health; as well as the prevention, detection, and treatment of psychiatric disorders in the context of high-stress, isolated, confined and extreme environments.