During her time in the Air Force, Wichita State doctoral student Jade Driggs has traveled around the country and the world. She’s studied at a few universities and lived a life of controlled chaos between her full-time education, service and family with two kids.

And yet, considering her wide variety of experiences, Driggs calls her time earning a doctorate in human factors psychology at WSU “the most transformative three years of my life.”

Driggs said she’s been wearing a uniform since she was 14 years old. She joined the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program in high school out of a desire to serve the country.

“I really knew at a young age that I wanted to join the military … I really wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than myself,” Driggs said.

Driggs graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 2011, serving as a second lieutenant and program manager, primarily overseeing GPS satellite operations. 

She bounced around the world, eventually stationing in Afghanistan in 2014, where she helped with American troop drawdowns from that conflict. After that, Driggs remained in the Air Force but focused on her education, earning a degree from Arizona State before coming to Wichita just before the COVID-19 lockdowns began.

Trust in technology

Wichita State has a renowned human factors program, a field of psychology that focuses on how humans interact with machines. WSU’s pedigree, alongside Driggs’ husband flying for the McConnell Air Force Base, made the decision to come to Wichita a “no-brainer” for her.

She said her experience with the Air Force, where pilots operate multi-million dollar planes at over 1000 mph, enhanced her interest in human factors.

At Wichita State, Driggs focused on human trust in technology. In March, Driggs won an award at a Topeka summit, where she had to present her research ideas before state legislators.

In her study, participants took a visual search test after observing an automated system complete a task. Driggs found that participants offered far more excuses for the computer’s poor performance than their own.

“When I was looking at some of the verbal responses that people were giving to explain the cause of the automated systems performance, they were like, ‘Oh, maybe it was programmed incorrectly,’” Driggs said. “They were not so quick to blame the automated system, and they made all these excuses.”

The research could suggest that we over-trust automated systems and don’t have a coherent understanding of why they go wrong. Driggs said people are starting to realize that, like humans, machines are also flawed.

“It’s almost like there’s this subtle acknowledgment that’s happening in society because we’re using automated systems more and more every day,” Driggs said. “And because we’re using them more and more every day, we’re starting to realize they’re not perfect all the time.”

A colored calendar and a diverse campus

Driggs described her home life as “chaotic.”

With a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old at home and a husband who is gone for half the month while flying for United Airlines, Driggs said she relies on communication and planning with her family.

“When you walk into our house, we have a huge calendar whiteboard, and we each have our own colors,” Driggs said.

Driggs said she never felt judged at Wichita State for being a mom and taking care of her kids — something she attributed to the campus’ diversity. She said diversity is another aspect that attracted her to WSU.

“As a person of mixed race, I’m half-Filipino, half African-American … I’m really passionate about diversity in education, about accessibility to education,” Driggs said. “And so I think that just really struck personally to me, that this place is really special.”

Infinite possibilities of wonderful things

During her studies, Driggs worked closely with adviser Lisa Vangsness, who moved to the University of Alabama in Huntsville after Driggs’ first year at Wichita State. Vangsness said she gave Driggs the option to follow her to Alabama. Driggs said no but wanted to continue working with Vangsness remotely.

“Jade is one of the most consistent people that I have ever met in my life,” Vangsness said.

Vangsness used a flood of complimentary terms to describe Driggs: “dedicated,” “professional,” “thoughtful,” “mature,” “positive,” “even-keeled,” “creative,” “driven,” and even “a little bit goofy.” 

She said it was a privilege to work with Driggs and see her journey through college.

“I know that she’s going to go on and do wonderful things,” Vangsness said. “The only question is, which phenomenal things is she going to do? Because there’s infinite possibilities out there, and I know we’re all waiting to see what amazing things she decides to do next.”

Driggs said she plans to work at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, a place she calls the main hub for human factors research. While she gets “bored if we’re somewhere for too long,” Driggs said her family will likely settle in Colorado Springs after she retires from the Air Force.

Between her years of service, passion for diversity and research into human factors, Driggs encouraged Wichita State students to “consider the perspectives of others.”

“Whether you’re talking about the perspectives of others when it comes to a cockpit … whether you’re taking into account someone with color deficiencies in their vision … it’s important to be considerate of the perspectives of others,” Driggs said. “It’s important to be in a place where people are so diverse because you get exposed to those differing perspectives.”