UB has found itself on the front lines in one of today's biggest post-Sept. 11 issues: airport security.
According to Colin Drury, chair of the industrial engineering department, UB is setting up a new research institute through the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences that will aim to decrease the chance for human error in security by improving the airport technology. The institute was made possible when UB won a $538,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
"That's the issue," said Drury, who is heading up the institute. "We can't train people to work better with a poor design."
According to Drury, UB's new Research Institute for Safety and Security in Transportation will use information from previous experiments of similar caliber to plan the design of its lab. During its first year, the institute will primarily focus on problems concerning baggage scanners.
Under the grant, the institute will be funded through 2007. Other universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, have also been funded since Sept. 11 by the FAA to improve airport and airplane security, Drury said.
According to Drury, human factors or inaccuracies arise from a number of reasons other than mechanical fault.
"It is very stressful for operators," Drury said. "The importance of the decisions they make and the sheer volume are all contributors."
Drury said the institute's goal is to help airport security technicians do their jobs better by giving them less to worry about on the technological side of things.
According to the FAA Web site, there are more than 5,300 public airports and heliports in the United States.
Many Americans have experienced first hand the attitude change towards airport security since Sept. 11, including those UB students who fly home for breaks and holidays.
"It has to be done, and correctly," said William Powell, a sophomore business major from Long Island. "I wouldn't fly home as often if I didn't feel safe."
Drury said he foresees graduate students and their assistants doing most of the institute's work through a computer interface simulator of baggage scanning devices. When the remainder of the grant is approved, the institute will move on to other experiments.
Drury added that through its current research, he believes UB will be able to secure a solid working relationship with the FAA for future research. Already, Drury and his team have established a web of information based on past research and new findings by local airport officials.
One Buffalo-Niagara International Airport official, who wished to remain anonymous, said he knew of Drury's research and explained how baggage scanners work.
As objects are fed through the scanning box on the belt, an image is produced by bouncing waves off the target, he said. All objects within the target are visible, and different colors represent different materials. Images can then be magnified for further analysis or also seen in only black and white.
According to Drury, image scanning in black and white can be just as effective as the color-coding system.
