Minds in Technology 2 lab<\/a>, run by Peter Hancock, Ph.D.<\/p>\n\u201cDr. Hancock always encourages us to pursue our own research endeavors and provides us with both the freedom and support to do so,\u201d Volante said.<\/p>\n
Volante gives an example of WWII fighter planes and how technology can affect human performance and vice versa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe controls for the landing gear and ejector seat were located right next to each other, and even worse; they looked almost identical,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was designed in such a way due to the optimization of the wiring the plane, but came with unexpected consequences. Pilots were mixing them up, especially in stressful situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study of Human Factors takes a look at user experience such as the WWII example, and tries to find ways to improve it. Volante has worked on researching various projects, including astronaut scheduling. He interviewed NASA astronauts, mission operators and other people included in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne critical issue that arises with space missions is the high number of tasks that need to be completed and the strain this puts on the astronauts,\u201d Volante said. \u201cOften their schedules are jam packed with all of the different things they have to do in the short time they are in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also studied the issue of sleeping in space, and how difficult it can be for astronauts. Volante loved this research project, as he grew up fascinated by space as a child. He has also worked on research projects involving virtual reality and language perception.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith language perception, we are also incorporating different cultures into the mix,\u201d Volante said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at how people perceive words differently, like in categories of probability, so words like always, never, sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Participants rank the words on a scale of 0-100 in terms of how often they believe something will happen if described with that word. The research team is attempting to release this study in Germany, Japan and China to see how culture plays a role. While he\u2019s done his fair share of projects, he\u2019s undecided which path he will take when he graduates in 2020. Volante is glad he put himself out there and changed his major.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took a chance by completely switching my major, but it was in pursuit of something I was passionate about,\u201d he said. \u201cI also knew in order to have the opportunity to study what I was interested in, I\u2019d have to get into grad school. But it wasn\u2019t even a guarantee it would work out. Students should actively pursue what they are interested in and take the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
William Volante, Ph.D. student, has been at UCF for seven years, but that doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t finished. In fact, he\u2019s just begun. Volante is from Gainesville, and out of high school was interested in engineering. Despite having a large state university in his own backyard, he wanted to go to UCF. He began his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":22210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,13,22,28,29],"tags":[4948,4949,4950,2376,2656,3621,4947],"class_list":["post-22208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-psychology-departments","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-human-factors","tag-minds-in-technology-2-lab","tag-mit2","tag-nasa","tag-peter-hancock","tag-ucf-psychology","tag-william-volante"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Volante, Ph.D. student, has been at UCF for seven years, but that doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t finished. In fact, he\u2019s just begun. Volante is from Gainesville, and out of high school was interested in engineering. Despite having a large state university in his own backyard, he wanted to go to UCF. He began his […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"961\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"865\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Hurtado\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Hurtado\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allison Hurtado\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\"},\"headline\":\"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Me-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Human Factors\",\"Minds in Technology 2 Lab\",\"MIT2\",\"nasa\",\"Peter Hancock\",\"UCF Psychology\",\"William Volante\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COS News\",\"News\",\"Psychology\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Me-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/22208-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Me-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Me-1.jpg\",\"width\":961,\"height\":865,\"caption\":\"A man with a beard smiling at the camera, wearing a black t-shirt, standing in a building with metal beams overhead.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\",\"name\":\"Allison Hurtado\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Hurtado\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News","og_description":"William Volante, Ph.D. student, has been at UCF for seven years, but that doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t finished. In fact, he\u2019s just begun. Volante is from Gainesville, and out of high school was interested in engineering. Despite having a large state university in his own backyard, he wanted to go to UCF. He began his […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":961,"height":865,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Allison Hurtado","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Hurtado","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Allison Hurtado","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b"},"headline":"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes","datePublished":"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/"},"wordCount":598,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg","keywords":["Human Factors","Minds in Technology 2 Lab","MIT2","nasa","Peter Hancock","UCF Psychology","William Volante"],"articleSection":["COS News","News","Psychology","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/","name":"Ph.D. Student Makes Major Changes - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-10T13:39:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/22208-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg","width":961,"height":865,"caption":"A man with a beard smiling at the camera, wearing a black t-shirt, standing in a building with metal beams overhead."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b","name":"Allison Hurtado","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Hurtado"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/Me-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n