Charles M. Oman is a senior research engineer, senior lecturer and director of the Man Vehicle Laboratory in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.

Oman’s group studies the physiological and cognitive limitations of humans in aircraft and spacecraft, and tries to develop new ways of improving human-vehicle effectiveness and safety. The laboratory takes an interdisciplinary approach, utilizing techniques from manual and supervisory control theory, estimation, signal processing, biomechanics, cognitive, computational and physiological neuroscience, sensory-motor physiology, human factors, and biostatistics.

Oman received his BSE from Princeton University and his PhD from MIT. He conducted experiments visual and vestibular function in spatial orientation on nine shuttle missions, including six Spacelab flights. Since 1997, he has lead the Sensorimotor Adaptation research team of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. Oman previously served on the NASA Advisory Council’s Biological and Physical Research Advisory Committee and the National Research Council Panel on Robotic Access and Human Planetary Landing Systems. He chaired the NASA Space Station Utilization Advisory Subcommittee from 2004-2005. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Joseph M. Sussman is the JR East Professor (endowed by the East Japan Railway Company) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Engineering Systems Division at MIT, where he has served as a faculty member for 40 years.

He is the author of Introduction to Transportation Systems, a graduate text published in 2000 and in use at a number of universities in the U.S. and abroad. It has been translated into Greek, Chinese and Spanish. His book Perspectives on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) was published in 2005.

Sussman received the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award from TRB, its highest honor, “for significant contributions to research” in 2001, and the CUTC Award for Distinguished Contribution to University Transportation Education and Research from the Council of University Transportation Centers in 2003. In 2002, ITS Massachusetts named its annual “Joseph M. Sussman Leadership Award” in his honor. He became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007. The Engineering School Alumni of the  City College of New York (CCNY) gave him its 2008 Career Achievement Award.

William Swelbar is a research engineer in MIT's International Center for Air Transportation. He is also affiliated with the Global Airline Industry Program and Airline Industry Consortium.

During the past 20 years, he has consulted for airlines, airports, investors, manufacturers and labor groups. He has also studied market behavior resulting from structural changes in the competitive environment, including mergers, alliances, new entrant carriers and new aircraft technology.

Ian A. Waitz is the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor and head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He is also the director of the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER), an FAA/NASA/Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence.

His principal areas of interest are the modeling and evaluation of climate, local air quality and noise impacts of aviation, including the assessment of technological, operational and policy options for mitigating these impacts.

Waitz has written approximately 75 technical publications, including a report to the U.S. Congress on aviation and the environment. He holds three patents and has consulted for many organizations. From 2002-2005, he was deputy head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has also served as an associate editor of the AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.

In 2003, Waitz received a NASA Turning Goals Into Reality Award for Noise Reduction. He was awarded the FAA 2007 Excellence in Aviation Research Award. He is a Fellow of the AIAA, and an ASME and ASEE member.

He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the fields of thermodynamics and energy conversion, propulsion and experimental projects. He was honored with the 2002 MIT Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award and appointment as an MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow in 2003.