Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) and founder and co-leader of the MIT AgeLab’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium and Human Factors Evaluator for Automotive Demand Consortium, has been appointed to the Aviation Regulatory Committee’s Human Factors Task Force on Aviation Safety (HF Task Force ARC). The HF ARC Task Force will recommend to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the most important human factors and their relative impact on aviation safety risks.
Reimer, who has been with MIT since 2003, serves on the committee with operational or academic expertise in airline operations, air traffic control, pilot experience, aviation communications, aircraft maintenance and engineering psychology, human-machine integration, and general aviation operations. Their recommendations to the FAA will help ensure the safety of passengers, aircraft crew, and cargo for years to come. He takes up this appointment after serving a year on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Reform Advisory Committee (TTAC), where he served as vice chair of the Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee. TTAC recently released its report to the Secretary of Transportation in accordance with its charter.
As a technology and mobility futurist working at the intersection of technology, human behavior, and public policy, Reimer will bring expertise in human-machine integration, transportation safety, and AI to the committee. The committee, established by mandate of Congress through the Bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, specifically required that some of its members have human factors expertise but also experience and training that is not primarily in aviation, which Reimer will provide.
MIT CTL partners with companies, governments and NGOs to generate and implement supply chain innovations through three pillars: research, outreach and education. As a longtime advocate of public-private partnerships to ensure consumer safety in transportation, Reimer’s unique expertise will help the FAA consider the human element of aviation safety more broadly. “Air transportation plays a vital role in the fast and reliable movement of goods over long distances and is essential for delivering time-sensitive products around the world,” said MIT CTL Director Yossi Shefi. Ensuring the smooth operation of this essential service amid potential disruptions requires understanding the current human factors involved in this process.”
Reimer recently discussed his research with electrical and computer engineering professor Phil Koopman on an episode of “The Ojo Yoshida Report.”
ARC members of the HF Task Force serve two-year terms. The first plenary meeting of the ARC was held in Washington on 15-16 January.
