Our lab promotes high-level human performance and behavioral health for individuals and teams in extreme and isolated working environments, particularly spaceflight, by optimizing crew selection, training, teaming, and cooperation between humans and robotic and autonomous agents. Our research improves safety and effectiveness for operational teams across many high-criticality domains. We have worked with firefighters, first responders, pilots, air traffic controllers, and healthcare providers, and in isolated, confined, and extreme environments like spaceflight analogs and Antarctic research stations. We are currently supported by the NASA Human Research Program on projects to maintain peak performance in long duration spaceflight by creating tools such as Virtual Reality-based trainings and by developing new team training strategies for NASA’s return to the Moon. Our research also has strong translational applications for improving access to mental health support in isolated and remote areas, and for making technical work across many high-risk professions better and safer.

We are based in the Neural Systems Group of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital.