WSRI hosts summit on health and human performance research

Joseph Houpt of the Wright State Research Institute, left, presented the poster “A New Approach to Studying Individual Differences in Working Memory” at the Health and Human Performance Research Summit at the Dayton Convention Center. Houpt’s poster was one of 57 presented at the three-day event.

The Wright State Research Institute hosted an inaugural Health and Human Performance Research Summit at the Dayton Convention Center with more than 250 participants, many traveling from throughout the U.S. and beyond for the three-day event.

The intent of the summit was to combine the robust capabilities of academia, industry and government with the unique science and technology knowledge base of the 711th Human Performance Wing (HPW) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base—building on the energy and expertise of Ohio’s strongest assets for the purpose of moving forward health and human performance technology and research through collaborative partnerships.

The summit was organized with keynote speakers, breakout sessions, panels and an ongoing poster session. There were seven keynote speakers over three days. Brig. Gen. Timothy Jex, commander, 711th Human Performance Wing, provided the opening presentation, followed by a university perspective address from Sean Creighton, president of the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education.

Other speakers included Vicki Giambrone, executive vice president, CBD Advisors; Kevin Hartke, president and COO, Mound Laser and Photonics Center; Kevin Geiss, director, 711th HPW Human Effectiveness Directorate; Kenneth Ford, founder and CEO of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition; and Tom Sudow, director of business development for the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center of the Cleveland Clinic.

A five-person panel provided diverse viewpoints regarding personal experiences and lessons learned for technology development and transition. The panel included moderator Gayle Rominger, president, Rominger Consulting; Jeff June, CEO, Ischemia Care; Brian Cummings, venture partner, Alta Ventures; Andrew Cothrel, president, Blue Marble Medical LLC; and Hugh Bolton, senior cyber and intelligence fellow, Wright State Research Institute.

The poster session and breakout sessions furthered the dissemination of knowledge to attendees. Scientists and engineers from academia and government, as well as researchers from industry, shared updates on their research, answered questions and held further discussions, with an eye on the formation of partnerships.

“The summit gives us the culture required to lead science, technology and commercial development, and serves as an aggregator of talent, connects entrepreneurs and investors with researchers, and allows participants an ability to forge new relationships that move technologies forward,” said WSRI’s Aaron Miller, director of AHEAD (Alliance for Human Effectiveness and Advancement). “Representatives came from as far away as the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, taking part in a presentation of over 50 unique posters, each describing various research on human performance.”