Rania W. Ghatas


Rania Ghatas

Contact Information

Rania W. Ghatas
Human/Machine Systems Research Engineer
Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch (D318)

NASA Langley Research Center
24 West Taylor St.
Mail Stop 152
Hampton, VA 23681
Email: rania.w.ghatas@nasa.gov

NASA Solar System Exploration Feature

Bio

Rania Ghatas is a human/machine systems (human factors) research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Ms. Ghatas began her career at NASA Langley in 2012.

Prior to beginning her career at NASA, Ms. Ghatas pursued her graduate studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she earned her Master of Science degree in Human Factors and Systems Engineering in 2011. In 2009, she earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida in Molecular Biology and Microbiology, and in Psychology.

Selected Publications

  1. Meredith Carroll, Nicklas Dahlstrom, Summer Rebensky, Tiziano Bernard, Donna Wilt, Rania Wageh Ghatas, Savita A. Verma, Richard H. Mogford, Victoria L. Dulchinos (In Press). ‘HCI in Aviation.’ In C. Stephanidis & G. Salvendy. Human-Computer Interaction: HCI Application Domains. Human-Computer Interaction: Foundations, Methods, Technologies and Applications. CRC Press, LLC, Taylor & Francis Group. In Press.
  2. Ghatas, Rania W., Samani, Saeideh E., Dulchinos, Victoria L., Mogford, Richard H. (May 2023). “Pilots’ Perspective on Urban Air Mobility Safety Challenges and Potential Solutions.” Conference Paper. 22nd International Symposium on Aviation Psychology; Rochester, NY. May 2023.
  3. Verma, Savvy, Dulchinos, Victoria, Wood, Robert (Dan), Mogford, Richard, Farrahi, Amir, Shyr, Megan, Ghatas, Rania (September 2022). “Corridor Design and Analysis for UAM Operations.” 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference; Portsmouth, Virginia. September 2022.
  4. Verma, Savvy, Dulchinos, Victoria, Mogford, Richard, Wood, Robert D., Farrahi, Amir, Ghatas, Rania, Mueller, Eric, Prevot, Tom, Schultz, Karl, Mollahan, Kellen, Clarke, Letitia, Dolgov, Igor, Bosson, Christabelle (June 2022). “Near Term Urban Air Mobility Use Cases in the Dallas Fort-Worth Area.” NASA Technical Memorandum 2022. NASA TM-2022-0009944; Moffett Field, CA. June 2022.
  5. Harrivel, Angela, Samani, Saeideh, Ghatas, Rania (July 2022). “Human Monitoring for Medical Operator Assistance.” 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics; New York. July 2022.
  6. Glaudel, Heidi S. and Ghatas, Rania W. (August 2021). “Establishing the Framework for e-VTOL Flight Mission Scenario Development for Urban Air Mobility Research using Cognitive Task Analysis.” AIAA Aviation 2021 Forum. Virtual Event; August 2021.
  7. Daiker, R., Harrivel, A., Ghatas, R., Lake, R., Maddock, S. (2020, June). “Cognitive Task Analysis and Knowledge Elicitation to Inform Medical Workstation Requirements for Long Duration Space Missions.” In Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering: Proceedings of the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conferences on Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering, and Industrial Cognitive Ergonomics and Engineering Psychology, July 16-20, 2020, USA (Vol. 1201, p. 164). Springer Nature.
  8. Null, Cynthia H., Daiker, Ronald J., Ghatas, Rania W., Holbrook, Jon B., Novak, Bonnie B., Rippy, Lisa O. (October 2019). “Human Systems Integration (HSI) for Safety-Critical Range Operations at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF).” NASA Technical Memorandum 2019. NASA TM-2019-220411. NESC-RP-18-01334. October 2019.
  9. Daiker, Ronald, Ghatas, Rania, Vincent, Michael (July 2018). “A Cognitive Task Analysis of Safety-Critical Launch Termination Systems.” 9th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics; Orlando, FL. July 2018.
  10. Ghatas, R. W., Tsakpinis, D., Sturdy, J. L., Jack, D. P., Myer, R. R., & DeHaven, A. M. (January 2018). “The effects of severity of losses of well clear on minimum operations performance standards end-to-end verification and validation simulation study for integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system using detect and avoid systems.” Proceedings of the 2018 AIAA Information Systems-AIAA Infotech@ Aerospace, AIAA, Kissimmee, FL.
  11. Ghatas, R.W., Comstock, J.R., Vincent, M.J., Hoffler, K.D., Tsakpinis, D., DeHaven, A.M. (2017). UAS Detect and Avoid – Alert Times and Pilot Performance in Remaining Well Clear. In: Chen, J. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Robots and Unmanned Systems. AHFE 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 595. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60384-1_11
  12. Ghatas, Rania W., Tsakpinis, Dimitrios, Sturdy, James L., Myer, Robert R. (November 2017). “The Effects of Alert Scoring and Alert Jitter on a Minimum Operational Performance Standards Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detect and Avoid System.” Conference Paper. The 5th ENRI International Workshop on ATM/CNS; Tokyo, Japan. November 2017. (Nominated for Best Paper)
  13. Ghatas, Rania W., Schultz, Vincent P., Jack, Devin P., Tsakpinis, Dimitrios, Sturdy, James L., Vincent, Michael J., Hoffler, Keith D., Myer, Robert, DeHaven, Anna (October 2017). “The Effects of Severity of Losses of Well Clear on Minimum Operations Performance Standards End-to-End Verification and Validation Simulation Study for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the National Airspace System using Detect and Avoid Systems.” Air Traffic Control Association Technical Symposium 62nd Annual Conference; National Harbor, MD. October 2017.
  14. Ghatas, R., Jack, D. P., Tsakpinis, D., Sturdy, J. L., Vincent, M. J., Hoffler, K. D., & Dehaven, A. (June 2017). “Unmanned aircraft systems detect and avoid system: End-to-end verification and validation simulation study of minimum operational performance standards for integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system.” In 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference (p. 3278).
  15. Ghatas, Rania W., Jack, Devin P., Tsakpinis, Dimitrios, Vincent, Michael J., Sturdy, James L., Muñoz, Cesar, Hoffler, Keith D., Dutle, Aaron, Myers, Robert, DeHaven, Anna M., Lewis, Tod, Arthur, Keith E. (March 2017). “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Minimum Operational Performance Standards End-to-End Verification and Validation (E2-V2) Simulation.” NASA Technical Memorandum 2017, NASA/TM-2017-20780; Hampton, VA. March 2017.
  16. Ghatas, Rania W., Comstock, James R., Jr., Vincent, Michael J., Consiglio, Maria, Hoffler, Keith D., Arthur, Keith (July 2016). “UAS in the NAS Collision Avoidance, Self-Separation, and Alerting Times Study: The Effects of Horizontal Miss Distances and Alert Times on Pilots Controlling Simulated UAS and Manned Aircraft Encounters.” Conference Abstract. 7th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics; Orlando, FL. July 2016.
  17. Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Vincent, Michael, Consiglio, Maria, Muñoz, César, Chamberlain, James, Volk, Paul, Arthur, Keith (March 2016). “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Human-in-the-Loop Controller and Pilot Acceptability Study: Collision Avoidance, Self-Separation, and Alerting Times (CASSAT).” Technical Memorandum, NASA/TM-2016-219181. April 2016.
  18. Comstock, James R., Ghatas, Rania W., Consiglio, Maria C., Vincent, Michael J., Chamberlain, James P., Hoffler, Keith D. (2016). “Using Simulation to Evaluate Air Traffic Controller Acceptability of Unmanned Aircraft with Detect-and-Avoid Technology.” Advances in Aviation Psychology, Volume 2: Using Scientific Methods to Address Practical Human Factors Needs. Routledge Publishing, 2016. eBook ISBN: 9781315565712.
  19. Chamberlain, James P., Consiglio, Maria C., Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Munoz, Cesar (June 2015). “NASA Controller Acceptability Study 1 (CAS-1) Experiment Description and Initial Observations.” NASA Technical Report, NASA/TM-2015-218763, NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA.
  20. Ghatas, Rania W., Comstock, James R., Jr., Consiglio, Maria C., Chamberlain, James P., Hoffler, Keith D. (May 2015). “UAS in the NAS Air Traffic Controller Acceptability Study-1: The Effects of Horizontal Miss Distances on Simulated UAS and Manned Aircraft Encounters.” Conference Paper. 18th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology; Dayton, OH. May 2015.
  21. Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Consiglio, Maria C., Chamberlain, James P., Hoffler, Keith D. (May 2015). “UAS in the NAS Air Traffic Controller Acceptability Study 2 (CAS-2):  The Effects of Communications Delays and Winds on Simulated UAS and Manned Aircraft Encounters.” Conference Paper. 18th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology; Dayton, OH.
  22. Trujillo, Anna C., Ghatas, Rania W., McAdaragh, Raymon, Burdette, Daniel W., Comstock, James R., Hempley, Lucas E., Fan, Hui (March 2015). “Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration into the National Airspace System Visual-Line-of-Sight Human-in-the-Loop Experiment.” NASA Technical Report. NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA.
  23. Consiglio, Maria, Muñoz, César, Hagen, George, Narkawicz, Anthony, Upchurch, Jason, Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Vincent, Michael, Chamberlain, James (2015). “Human-In-The-Loop Experimental Research for Detect and Avoid.” Proceedings of the 34th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2015); Prague, Czech Republic, 2015.
  24. Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Consiglio, Maria C., Chamberlain, James P., Hoffler, Keith D. (2015). “UAS in the NAS Air Traffic Controller Acceptability Study 2 (CAS-2):  The Effects of Communications Delays and Winds on Simulated UAS and Manned Aircraft Encounters.” NASA Technical Report. NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA.
  25. Trujillo, Anna, Ghatas, Rania, Burdette, Dan, McAdaragh, Raymon (June 2014). “The Ability of RC Pilots to Maintain Visual Line-of-Sight of their Vehicle.” AIAA Aviation Forum. 14th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference. Atlanta, GA, June 2014.
  26. McAdaragh, Raymon M., Comstock, James R., Jr., Ghatas, Rania W., Burdette Daniel W., Trujillo, Anna C. (June 2014). “Making the Case for New Research to Support the Integration of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the National Airspace System.” NASA Technical Report. NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA.
  27. Comstock, James R., Jr., McAdaragh, Raymon, Ghatas, Rania W., Burdette, Daniel W., Trujillo, Anna C (May 2014). “UAS in the NAS: Survey Responses by ATC, Manned Aircraft Pilots, and UAS Pilots.” NASA Technical Report. NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA.
  28. Comstock, James R., Jr., McAdaragh, Raymon, Ghatas, Rania W., Burdette, Daniel W., Trujillo, Anna C (June 2013). “UAS in the NAS: Survey Responses by ATC, Manned Aircraft Pilots, and UAS Pilots.” Conference Paper. 17th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology; Dayton, OH.

Awards/Honors

2020 – Ames Honor Awards: Air Traffic Management-eXploration (ATM-X) Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Experiment 2 (X2) Team – Group/Team – “For their exceptional leadership in defining and guiding the research and development of a generational new air transportation system for urban metropolitan areas.”

2020 – Associate Administrator Award: UAS Integration in the NAS

2018 – Langley Honor Awards: Wallops Flight Facility Range Data Display System (RDDS) Re-Design Team – “For exceptional innovation and dedication in assisting Wallops Flight Facility improve safety of launch operations.”

2016 – Langley Honor Awards: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Human-in-the-Loop Controller and Pilot Acceptability Study: Collision Avoidance, Self-Separation, and Alerting Times (CASSAT) Team – “For exceptional technical leadership and innovation in defining and executing the CASSAT experiment for UAS Integration in the NAS.”

2015 – Langley Honor Awards: UAS in the NAS SSI Team – “For exceptional technical leadership and innovation in developing minimum performance standards for UAS operations in the NAS.”