Today, Prof. Roberts was featured in a WalletHub article about how to reduce cost of vehicle ownership.
Photo of the Research Group in the Driving Simulator Laboratory in December 2022
Recent News
This week, many UMass researchers attended the TRB Meeting.
Not only did Meng Wang present research from her summer internship, but we also had many gatherings of past, current, and future UMass transportation researchers.
Today, two grants with Prof. Roberts as co-PI were selected for funding!
The first is entitled "Culture Change in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Public University System: A Partnership Between UMass Boston and Amherst" and is collaboration with Nilanjana Dasgupta, Neena Thota, Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, and Daniel Haehn. It is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. You can read more about the project here and here.
The second is entitled "Understanding cybersecurity risk and resiliency for law enforcement vehicles" and is in collaboration with Lauren McCarthy. It is a UMass ADVANCE Seed grant and you can read about it here.
Our article entitled Factors affecting drivers’ off-road glance behavior while interacting with in-vehicle voice interfaces was accepted and published to Accident Analysis and Prevention!
This work focuses on Fangda Zhang's dissertation. Congratulations Fangda!
Our report focused on recommendations for designing human machine interfaces in driving automation systems was released today. You can read it here.
Congratulations to all of the students who spent so much time on this project -- Shashank Mehrotra, Meng Wang, Jah'inaya Parker, and Nicholas Wong!
Today, Meng Wang, Shashank Mehrotra, and Jah'inaya Parker presented their posters at the HFES Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
Also, Prof. Roberts officially became the Chair of the Surface Transportation Technical Group of HFES.
Congratulations to all!!!
Today, Prof. Roberts was featured in a UMass COE news story about a WalletHub article, being elected to the HFES Executive Coucil, and receiving the Bentzi Karsh Early Career Service Award. You can see the article here.
Today, Prof. Roberts was elected to be an At-Large Member of the Executive Council for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Today, Prof. Roberts was honored to receive the Bentzi Karsh Early Career Service Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The award was given to Prof. Roberts during the HFES Annual Meeting.
Today, Prof. Roberts just wrapped up the Mid Year Meeting for the TRB Young Driver Subcommittee on "Inequities and Disparities in Young Driver Safety". With over 20 attendees, we had a very lively discussion about current research and future work.
Today, Prof. Roberts was on a panel to discuss her path in engineering during the Massenberg STEM Institute.
Today, Prof. Roberts was quoted in a Wallet Hub article about teen driving and insurance. You can see the article here.
Today, Prof. Roberts gave a presentation on Industrial Engineering and Human Factors during the Summer Engineering Institute. Students in the Institute also had the opportunity to do a small research experiment on Human Factors.
Today, Prof. Roberts was featured in a segment on WWLP's Mass Appeal for National Women in Engineering Day. You can see a video of the interview here.
Prof. Roberts comment about the importance of the transportation community was featured in the May-June issue of TR News.
Prof. Roberts is now the Paper Review Coordinator for the TRB Committee on the Human Factors of Vehicles (ACH30).
The collaborative project on hazard anticipation training for teen drivers funded by the Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center was highlighted in an article, which you can read here.
The UMTC (UMass Transportation Center) was featured in an article about how their research improves mobility and safety. The HPL and Prof. Roberts were featured in the article, which you can find here.
Today, Prof. Roberts paper with Shashank Mehrotra entitled "Identifying and Improving Young Drivers’ Perceptions towards Vulnerable Road Users" was accepted for presentation at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.
In addition, Prof. Roberts paper with Jah'inaya Parker, Meng Wang, and Fangda Zhang entitled "How do drivers respond to vehicle cyberattacks? A driving simulator study" was also accepted for presentation at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting.
Congratulations to both teams on great work!
Today, Fangda Zhang and Shashak Mehrotra attended their doctoral commencement ceremony! Fangda and Shashank officially graduated in August 2021 and January 2022, respectively, but getting hooded and walking across the stage is worthy of an additional celebration.
Congratulations Fangda and Shashank!
This summer, both Grace Babalola and Meng Wang will be taking part in experiental learning via internships. Grace will be interning at Amazon in Seattle, WA and Meng will be interning at AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington, DC.
Congratulations Grace and Meng!
Today, Shashank Mehrotra and Fangda Zhang's paper with Prof. Roberts paper entitled "Looking out or Looking Away?—Exploring the Impact of Driving With a Passenger on Young Drivers’ Eye Glance Behavior" was published in the Human Factors Journal.
Congratulations to the team on great work!
Today, Jah'inaya Parker and Beatrice Ojuri presented their research on "Impact of Level 2 Automation and ADHD Symptomatology on Young Drivers’ Attention Maintenance" at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference. You can see a video of their presentation here.
Aditya Surbhit also presented his research on "Risk-Anticipation Training to Enhance Novice Driving" at the same conference. You can see a video here.
Congatulations Jah'inaya, Beatrice, and Aditya!
Today, Jah'inaya Parker was selected as a Spring 2022 Rising Researcher. Jah'inaya has been involved in a host of research projects since she joined the lab and she described her experience as an undergraduate student researcher in the following article.
Congatulations Jah'inaya!
Today, Prof. Roberts gave a talk during the Purdue University's HFES Chapter's Tech Talk Series entitled "What’s going on with this car?: How drivers respond to unexpected events in driving automation systems".
Today, Prof. Roberts is attending the 48th Annual Convention for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Anaheim, CA with the UMass student chapter as their faculty advisor. The students are enjoying their time here and making the most of the opportunity!
Prof. Roberts is now on the Editorial Board for the Ergonomics Journal.
Today, Grace Babalola has officially joined the Roberts Research Group as a PhD Student!
We are also very excited to announce that Meng Wang received one of the College of Engineering's Fellowships, which is given to PhD students with great promise.
Welcome Grace and Congratulations Meng!
Today, Shashank Mehrotra began his full time position as a Human Factors Engineer at Honda Research Institute! We are so excited to see Shashank begin the next step of his career as a PhD!
