CONTACT: GARY GALLUZZO
300 Plaza Centre One
Iowa City IA 52242
(319) 384-0009; fax (319) 384-0024
e-mail: gary-galluzzo@uiowa.edu

Release: May 31, 2002

UI to co-host June 2-4 national symposium on simulation

The University of Iowa will co-host the 16th Biannual Symposium on Visibility and Simulation in collaboration with the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences Sunday through Tuesday, June 2-4 at the UI College of Engineering.

Some 65 engineers and other researchers from across the country -- most of them studying human visibility performance as it relates to driving motor vehicles -- will discuss such topics as visibility, simulation and measurement, signing and marking materials, traffic control devices, user information systems, and vehicle user characteristics. Presentations will be organized into two parallel tracks, with a full day on Monday and a half-day on Tuesday. The paper track session will be held at the Iowa Memorial Union.

Thomas Schnell, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, director of the Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL) and symposium organizer, says that the decision to hold the symposium at the University of Iowa is an honor. "This symposium is normally being held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. However, because of the leading role the University of Iowa plays in simulation -- including the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS), the Simulator for Research in Ergonomics and Neuroscience (SIREN) driving simulator, and OPL flight simulators -- the TRB decided to have the University of Iowa co-host the symposium in Iowa City this time," he says.

As a part of the symposium, tours of the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS), the Simulator for Interdisciplinary Research in Ergonomics and Neuroscience (SIREN) and the flight simulation laboratory of the Operator Performance Laboratory will be on Sunday, June 2.

The sponsors of the symposium are the U.S. Transportation Research Board's Committee on Visibility, Committee on Simulation and Measurement, Committee on Signing and Marking Materials, Committee on Traffic Control Devices, Committee on User Information Systems, and Committee on Vehicle User Characteristics, the UI Operator Performance Laboratory and the UI Center for Computer Aided Design.

For more information, contact Tom Schnell, 2135 Seamans Center, (319) 384-0811, (319) 631-4445 or e-mail visibility-symposium@uiowa.edu. The symposium web site can be found at http://arrow.win.ecn.uiowa.edu.