Tom Schnell, an associate director for the UI’s Iowa Technology Institute and the Captain Jim “Max” Gross Chair in the UI College of Engineering, is the founder of the Operator Performance Laboratory. Since arriving in Iowa City 25 years ago this spring, Schnell has built the OPL into a nationally trusted aviation research hub.

Air Force test pilots have flown numerous live flights in L-29 jet trainers at the University of Iowa Technology Institute’s Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL), an ACE performer. The two-seat L-29 jets at OPL are outfitted with sensors in the cockpit to measure pilot physiological responses, giving researchers clues as to whether the pilot is trusting the AI or not.

DARPA is also testing how human pilots interact with AI to examine how well they trust machines to automatically conduct dogfights. Air Force pilots have flown L-29 jet trainers also running AI algorithms at the University of Iowa Technology Institute's Operator Performance Laboratory.

Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL) director and University of Iowa industrial engineering professor Tom “Mach” Schnell briefed national security leaders on a project seeking to improve artificial intelligence in aerial combat.

In less than three years, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms developed under DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program have progressed from controlling simulated F-16s flying aerial dogfights on computer screens to controlling an actual F-16 in flight. University of Iowa's Operator Performance Lab has contributed to the progress.

Tom "Mach" Schnell, a 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.

A delegation of Iowa legislators, staffers, and state officials visited the University of Iowa campus for an immersive experience with researchers who study aggressive cancer, manufacture pharmaceuticals, test new aircraft systems, and delve into biblical studies.

State lawmakers toured the University of Iowa’s Operator Performance Lab (OPL) hangar at the Iowa City Municipal Airport on Tuesday.

University of Iowa's Operator Performance Lab (OPL) hosted the Air Force ROTC Detachment 255 (Det 255) award ceremony and the installment of a new cadet group commander. OPL and Det 255 have a collaborative relationship.

The University of Iowa may not have the visibility of some aviation schools, but the institution is well known for important research for the civil and military sectors. Robert W. Moorman spoke with their principals. Often research of new technology serves as a prologue to a corresponding need for new or better training. Such could be the case with various research programs at the Iowa Technology Institute, part of the College of Engineering.