Driver attention / Museum curators / Saugatuck book / Volunteer award

Professor studies driver attention

Psychology professor Richard Backs observes a volunteer completing a simulated driving test.

Think you’ve mastered the art of driving safely while dialing a cell phone or switching radio stations? Psychology professor Richard Backs has a test that might prove you wrong.

Backs is conducting research that could help car companies develop better technology to minimize driver attention failures and design dashboard devices that require less attention to operate.

Unlike most scientists who focus strictly on performance while researching driver safety, Backs and his students at CMU are using brain wave patterns and heart activity to study drivers’ attention while behind the wheel. This series of psycho-physiological tests of driver responses are being conducted using a desktop driver simulator provided by the General Motors Corporation.

“We are simulating how people use their attention while driving to better understand distractions such as navigation systems, cell phones and other portable wireless devices,” Backs said. “In normal situations, our driving performance is not affected by these distractions. We may think we are driving safely, but physiological measures show that our attention is actually focused on these other devices. Through our research, we hope to learn how to minimize distractions from these types of devices.”

Evaluating senior drivers

In addition to his work with General Motors, Backs is seeking funding to expand his research and establish a driving center at CMU. The center will be a collaboration between the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions.

Backs will operate the center with Nick Cassavaugh, a research scientist and psychology department faculty member. A key focus of their research will be on how driver attention changes as people age, focusing on adults 65 years of age and older.

“As the population of Michigan ages the number of individuals experiencing adverse health conditions associated with aging will increase,” said Backs. “There is an obvious need for these individuals to have their driving ability evaluated following a life-changing health event such as a stroke. However, physicians and family members also may want to have driving evaluations for older adults who might be experiencing mild to moderate dementia.”

Psychology professor Richard Backs attaches the electrodes that will map brain wave patterns during a simulated driving test.

In addition to evaluating older drivers, Backs and Cassavaugh will research adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and other diagnosed attention disorders to learn how these conditions affect their attention while driving and help to develop remediation for them.

Backs and Cassavaugh also will develop an attention test to assess functions such as visual scanning, flexibility of attention, and sustained attention to diagnose specific attention deficits.

Backs has received a grant worth $214,000 from the CMU Vision 2010 initiative to cover most of the operating expenses for the center for two years. He is seeking additional funding to purchase special equipment, such as a driving simulator and eye tracking devices, and to support the costs for undergraduate and graduate students’ clinical experiences and research.

“There are so many things that we can do with this research,” said Backs. “Not only do we want to understand how we use our attention as we drive, we also want to develop programs to educate people on how to better distribute their attention while driving.”

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CMU hires new museum curators

The Museum of Cultural and Natural History at Central Michigan University is under new leadership. Two curators were hired last summer to take over operations of the museum located in Rowe Hall.

Bill Pretzer is the new museum director and curator of history, and Kirsten Nicholson is the curator of natural history. Pretzer and Nicholson oversee the museum’s operations, including exhibitions, educational programs and management of the collections.

Along with serving as museum director and curator, Pretzer is director of the Museum Studies interdisciplinary minor and is an associate professor of history in the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Nicholson is an assistant professor of biology in the College of Science and Technology.

Before coming to CMU, Pretzer was a curator and educational administrator at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn for 21 years. Prior to that, he gained experience at Winterthur Museum in Delaware and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his master’s and doctorate in history from Northern Illinois University.

“My goal is to establish the museum as an active resource for the study of cultural and natural history; a center for the study of material culture and an advocate for informal, experiential learning,” said Pretzer. “I believe museums and similar organizations are immensely important as learning institutions, as community centers and as cultural resources.”

Since arriving in August, Pretzer’s priorities have been to reassess the museum’s policies, procedures and programs, begin the revision of educational materials provided to local schools, and install a new student-developed exhibition (see adjacent article). He and Nicholson also are reassessing the Museum Studies offerings and organization.

A native of Mount Juliet, Tenn., Nicholson earned a bachelor’s degree in science in 1991 at the University of Memphis and a master’s degree in science in 1995 at Auburn University in Alabama. She earned her doctorate in biology in 2001 at the University of Miami and continued her research as a postdoctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis.

Her museum-related experience includes stints as a mammal technician at the University of Memphis, assistant curator of herpetology at Auburn University’s Museum of Natural History and assistant curator for the herpetology collection at the University of Miami.

“I’m thrilled about my position here with CMU,” said Nicholson. “This is a fantastic opportunity to combine my research and museum experience and interests. I’m excited to be a part of the development of the museum.”

Nicholson has concentrated on revising the zoology collections database, overseeing conservation projects, revamping the pest-management system, involving undergraduates in research utilizing museum specimens, and developing an experiential learning program involving animal displays in local schools.

Established at CMU in 1970, the Museum of Cultural and Natural History serves the university by providing teaching and research opportunities for students, faculty and staff; creating educational materials and experiences for school children; and offering a cultural resource for the general public, local residents and visitors to the university.

Photo caption: Bill Pretzer (left) and Kirsten Nicholson (right) stand in front of the logger’s cabin, which is on display in CMU’s Museum of Cultural and Natural History. Pretzer is the new museum director and curator of history. Nicholson is the curator of natural history.

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Book leads to architectural tour of Saugatuck

The Lake Michigan port village of Saugatuck is making a name for itself among the likes of Tokyo, New York City and Palms Springs, Fla., thanks in part to a book written by CMU history professor James Schmiechen.

Schmiechen’s book, “Raising the Roof: A History of the Buildings and Architecture in the Saugatuck and Douglas Area,” contributed to the Saugatuck area being selected as a 2007 Society of Architectural Historians study tour, along with Tokyo, New York City and Palm Springs. An exhibition based on the book held at the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Museum along with the Society of Architectural Historians’ visit to the area contributed to Saugatuck being chosen.

As the tour’s guide, Schmiechen will be able to share his knowledge and passion of the Lake Michigan port villages’ unique architectural history with others.

“I am very elated and excited to be able to serve as the tour guide for the Society of Architectural Historians four-day tour in October 2007,” said Schmiechen, who also is chairperson of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Museum. “The tour will visit and study many buildings in the Saugatuck, Douglas and Pier Cove area designed by famous American architects and artists, such as Florence Hunn, Tomas Tallmadge, George Maher and George Helmuth.”

At first glance, Saugatuck may not appear to have much in common with the other cities chosen for tours, but according to the Society of Architectural Historians, these sites were chosen because they each have exceptional architectural value and interest.

“A lot of the area’s early character has been preserved, so the villages do not look like suburban-mall-type environments,” Schmiechen said. “The Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society uses my book as part of a war to save the historic landscape and townscape from indiscriminate and tasteless development. It is an effort to try to get people to build new structures which complement, not compete, with the traditional environment.”

Schmiechen’s book uses text, photographs and illustrations to feature Saugatuck-Douglas area buildings and tell the story of the transformation of Lake Michigan port villages from logging towns to cultural hot-spots for artists and writers.

“The industrialization and urbanization of Chicago in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to many people using Lake Michigan port villages, like Saugatuck, as places to have fun and get back in touch with nature, God and the arts,” Schmiechen said.

Saugatuck has been selected as one of Gov. Granholm’s “Cool Cities,” and the U.S. Government named it a “Preserve America City.” The Society of Architectural Historians promotes the preservation and study of architecture all over the world, and its study tours provide travel and learning opportunities for its members.

Photo caption: James Schmiechen (left) holds his book, “Raising the Roof,” which contributed to the Saugatuck area being included in the 2007 Society of Architectural Historians study tour.

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Dog Tales founder receives volunteer award

Philosophy and religion department executive secretary Betty Lewis was honored recently for her service to the community.

The CMU Volunteer Center named Lewis as one of the first recipients of its new Volunteers are Central recognition program, which celebrates the contributions of volunteers from across campus.

Lewis is founder and coordinator of Dog Tales Inc., an organization dedicated to improving children’s literacy skills by using certified therapy dogs as mentors. The program is the first of its kind in Michigan.

“Children read books one-on-one to certified therapy dogs,” said Lewis. “The dogs establish an instant rapport with the children and are not judgmental, which allows a child who normally cannot read aloud in front of a group to feel more comfortable.”

Dog tales is in its fifth year. Volunteers have organized reading programs at several libraries and schools in the Central Michigan region. Most programs last four weeks.

“Dogs are fun, so the children do not see our program as an extension of school or school tutoring,” said Lewis. “The dogs do not laugh, make faces or correct the children. They accept the way they read. Our program is more about improving a child’s self-esteem to jump-start their progress in reading. We want them to leave our program believing they can read.”

The CMU Volunteers are Central program honors up to three students, one faculty or staff member, and one department or organization per month.

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