Divs. 19 and 21 feature cutting-edge research at joint symposium

Div. 19 (Military) and Div. 21 (Applied Experimental and Engineering) teamed up to sponsor "Measuring and maintaining performance in complex environments," a March 6-7 symposium featuring research on human performance on the battlefield, in military and civilian aviation, air traffic control and other complex work environments. More than 100 psychologists and students attended or presented research on such topics as optimizing cognitive readiness under combat conditions and measuring and maintaining performance in air traffic control.

In addition, Div. 19 recognized outstanding student research in honor of the late Jimmy Mitchell, PhD, a distinguished U.S. Air Force officer and military psychologist.

The winners are:

* Jennifer Ross of the University of Central Florida, whose study, "Performance, workload and stress with temporal and spatial task demands," won best graduate paper.

* Jennie Hattman and Michelle Kracht of the U.S. Military Academy, whose study, "Measuring situational awareness in the field and assessing its relationship to hardiness in field training exercises: a twofold study," won best undergraduate paper.

* Simon Boyd, Mark Juntunen and Kelly Schachtler of the U.S. Military Academy, whose poster, "Effect of cueing and presence of a distracting task on detecting change in battle icons," won best undergraduate poster.

Other meeting highlights included a policy hour with officials from APA's Science Directorate and Public Policy Office, who provided attendees with up-to-date information on efforts to promote behavioral research in the federal legislature. The 2004 joint symposium will be held in Ft. Belvoir, Va., next March. For more information, contact Div. 21 President David Schroeder, PhD, at david.schroeder@faa.gov.

New focus on arts, creativity for Div. 32

Div. 32 (Humanistic) has added a new section, Psychology and the Arts, to the division. With a new focus on creativity, Div. 32 will collaborate with Div. 10 (Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts), on programming on the arts in the Div. 32 hospitality suite at APA's 2003 Annual Convention in Toronto.

The two divisions are also planning joint programming at APA's 2004 Annual Convention in Honolulu. For questions about the hospitality suite programming, contact Div. 32 President Franz Epting, PhD, at frepting@hotmail.com.

--J. CHAMBERLIN