CBBS News
Walker Wins Top Psychology Award
Alexander Walker, a master’s student in the Human Factors Psychology program, has recently won a top award from the 16th annual Interservice/Industry Training Simulation & Education Conference (IITSEC). This conference awards two scholarships each year to worthy graduate students across the country, and this is the second year in a row that a Clemson student from the Human Factors Psychology program has won this award. Last year, Jason Moss, a colleague of Walker’s from the Human Stress and Motion Science Laboratory, won the IITSEC doctoral student award. After winning, Walker expressed his pride in himself and his lab; he said, “I feel extremely fortunate especially, considering the fact that this is the second year in a row that someone from Dr. [Eric] Muth’s lab won.”
Walker’s interests in human and team performance, uncoupled motion and motion sickness, in conjunction with his academic achievements, made him a successful candidate for this award. As a member of Dr. Muth’s lab, Walker has been able to participate in many different research projects; one such project was a collaborative effort between his lab and students in computer and electrical engineering to study team training in virtual environments. Another project led Walker to a publication in the Journal of Human Factors.
As a winner of this award, Walker will receive a $5,000 scholarship and will present at the 17th annual IITSEC conference. He plans on using his scholarship money for future research endeavors that would not be possible without this financial backing. In addition, one of his research experiences in Dr. Muth’s lab will eventually lead to the basis of his presentation at the IITSEC conference in November. This award will give Walker many research and scholarship opportunities, of which he is very deserving, noted Dr. Muth, who is also his research advisor. “This fellowship is an illustration of Alex’s current success and future potential, and evidence of the quality of Clemson students.”
The IITSEC conference offers two annual scholarships to master’s and doctoral students in an effort to stimulate interest in the simulation, training and education community. Students who win one of these awards are invited to join the conference to learn about the latest technologies in the field and to meet leading community figures from government, industry and academia. To be eligible, students must be enrolled full time in a related discipline and have a stated interest and career goal in modeling, simulation and training systems. To learn more about this scholarship and applying for future awards, visit the IITSEC conference website at www.iitsec.org/scholarships.cfm.