Tom "Mach" Schnell, University of Iowa industrial engineering professor and director of Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL), and Lt. Col. Patrick "Dice" Highland, a recent UI PhD and Commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Detachment 3 in San Diego, Calif., briefed national security leaders on a project that aims to improve artificial intelligence in aerial combat. 

OPL is playing a critical role in a major Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) national security project called Air Combat Evolution or ACE. Led by Schnell, also Captain Jim “Max” Gross Chair in Engineering, UI is working to gather trust data to understand if pilots are trusting the AI or conversely taking over controls from the AI when appropriate. 

The Schnell and Highland presentation was part of DARPA Forward: Advancing the Horizons of National Security, a conference held at Georgia Institute of Technology in October.