Photo By Megan Mudersbach | Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton's Director of the Naval Aerospace Medical Research...... read more read more
By: Erica Jones, Public Affairs, Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton
Over the past several decades, aerospace medical research has evolved in a number of ways, and the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-Dayton) continues adapting to meet the growing needs of the fleet. Dr. Richard Arnold, Director of the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, has helped navigate the changes during NAMRL’s time as a standalone laboratory in Pensacola, Florida and after the 2010 formation of NAMRU-Dayton command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), Ohio.
As director, Arnold is responsible for executing NAMRL’s research mission, which is to mitigate and prevent leading factors associate with aviation mishaps as well as to protect and enhance the health, readiness, and performance of aircrew. The lab‘s core research capabilities include altitude effects, fatigue assessment and mitigation, acceleration and motion effects, motion sickness countermeasures, spatial disorientation mitigation, aircrew neck/back pain and injury, vision standards and performance, and aviation personnel selection testing. His leadership plays an integral part of NAMRU-Dayton’s emergence at the forefront of military aerospace medical research.
Initially attracted to a career in academia, Dr. Arnold’s interest in history, particularly the historiography of psychology, led him to military research.
“I was getting my PhD in differential psychology, and psychological testing is a big part of that,” explained Arnold. “I knew that the military, during WWI and WWII, had enlisted or conscripted psychologists to help with screening and selection testing for soldiers and sailors, generally, but in aviation specifically. One day I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’ll see what the military is doing these days’. ”
His interest led him to a program with a six-month flight school component, and he commissioned in 1999 as a Naval Aerospace Experimental Psychologist.
“I was lucky enough that my first assignment at the Naval Aerospace Medicine Institute (NAMI) was in selection testing in which I had a good background,” said Arnold, “but then I went to my second tour [which] was completely out of my field—it was simulators, simulation-based training research, it was very technical. I did not have much of a technical background at all, but you kind of adapt.”
After leaving the military he ran a small consulting business specializing in aeromedical and human factors research. Arnold returned to the Navy as a civilian staff scientist at NAMRL, Pensacola and became the scientific director in 2010.
Under his leadership, NAMRL’s research remained active up to and through the move despite the fact that some labs directed to move by the BRAC were closing down.
“So much of our success is dependent on personalities, reputation, and output,” said Arnold. “If we had just closed down and then re-opened and started from scratch, no one would have known who we were. So we kept research programs and projects active. We identified spaces in Dayton, we identified collaborators….Everything remained in motion throughout the move so we stayed engaged with the sponsors.”
For Arnold, moving to WPAFB was a great opportunity for NAMRL. “We got moved to be co-located with USAFSAM [U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine], and we worked very closely with the Air Force aeromedical community.”
Attracting and retaining scientific talent is also important to a director and another advantage of moving the lab to WPAFB.
“We have the capability of recruiting scientists here. It’s night and day. It was very difficult to recruit [in Pensacola],” remarks Arnold. “The facilities here are fantastic. Not only our own facilities, but the facilities we have access to on base. It’s wonderful.”
Today, NAMRL houses an acceleration research facility that includes the world’s only Disorientation Research Device: the Kraken as well as various vestibular oriented research simulators. Additionally, NAMRL has an on-site fabrication shop.
As the lab continues to grow and become more established, Arnold is looking ahead at not only NAMRL’s scientific mission and strategic plan, but the scientific expertise of his staff and his supervisory responsibilities.
According to Arnold, the researchers are “the pointy end of the spear, and my job is just to help them get their jobs done.”
He is proud to have a hand in bringing together the group of NAMRL scientists who represent NAMRU-Dayton through their participation in annual scientific conferences such as the upcoming 90th Aerospace Medical Association Meeting (AsMA), May 5-9, and other activities that bring to light the command’s collective achievements.
“They’re a great group doing amazing research, and they’ve got a great reputation across the Department of Defense. I’m proud of the hand I had in bringing them here, helping them, match-making with sponsors and collaborators. But they make it all happen, I don’t,” said Arnold.
Arnold is an active member of AsMA and served as the 2017-2018 Chair of the DoD Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group (DoD HFE TAG).
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2019 12:32 |
| Story ID: | 319884 |
| Location: | WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 392 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Who Are Dayton’s Navy Scientists? Dr. Richard Arnold, by Megan Mudersbach, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT