Skip to main content
July 11, 2017

Ja Young Lee wins Honda Student Paper Award at driving assessment conference

Written By: Webmanager

In June 2017, Ja Young Lee, PhD student in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received the Honda Outstanding Student Paper Award at the International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design, which was held in Manchester Village, Vermont. The symposium, also called the driving assessment conference, provides an interdisciplinary forum for scientific exchange on driving assessment tools, applications and technology.

Ja Young Lee with her advisor, Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor John Lee. Photo by University of Iowa Driving Assessment Conference.

Lee is advised by Emerson Electric Quality & Productivity Professor John Lee and works in the area of human factors and ergonomics. The award, sponsored by the American Honda Motor Company, provides a certificate and cash prize for outstanding research presented at the conference.

Based on experiments in the UW-Madison Driving Simulation Laboratory, Ja Young Lee presented a statistical model for a car driver’s glance behavior while engaged in a distracting task, such as text reading or text entry. The model evaluated the driver’s attention switching behavior as a function of the environment—uncertain road conditions—and specific task characteristics. Modeling the relationship between the nature of distracting tasks and the resulting driver behavior informs the design of advanced driver assistance systems that help reduce the risk of accidents.

“The caliber of student papers we receive for the driving assessment conference is always outstanding, and this year is no exception. The organizing committee had a difficult task in selecting the 2017 winners,” said Daniel McGehee, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, emergency medicine and public health at the University of Iowa and the committee’s co-chair. “Award recipients showcase the best and brightest internationally in the field of human factors driving research.”

Honda’s Timothy Dick presented the award. “Today’s student awards highlight the importance of understanding driver behavior in the areas of distraction, fitness, and experimental methods,” Dick said. “We look to these bright students for fresh thinking and innovation.”


Categories