Florida Tech College of Aeronautics Professor John Deaton Recognized with Lifetime Achievement Award

accrued over 700 hours of flight time on various Navy aircraft during his stint

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech College of Aeronautics Professor John Deaton was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Navy Psychology Group.

His call sign was “Flying Shrink,” and for 15 years, John Deaton was among just a few dozen people in the U.S. Navy who were just that. Officially known as an Aerospace Experimental Psychologist, Deaton served his branch and our country from 1980 to 1995 by conducting critical research into aviation human factors.

Aerospace Experimental Psychologists are flight-trained Naval officers who apply their expertise in human factors and the behavioral sciences toward solving human performance challenges in naval aviation and across the fleet, according to the U.S. Navy Aerospace Experimental Psychology Society.

Deaton accrued over 700 hours of flight time on various Navy aircraft during his stint. Like any sailor, he went through grueling training that included water survival, hypoxia training, ejection seat training, and more. His research into human factors, an area that had generally been downplayed, showcased his true expertise.

Among his major work in the Navy was an examination of G-forces’ effects on human performance.

“Up until my research, they hadn’t looked at that because most of the people that were doing the research were physiologists, not human factors people,” Deaton said.

“And, of course, my interest was in performance more so than the physiology of high acceleration. So that was one thing that was new and different.”

 

For highlighting the new and different in that research and much more, for going on from the Navy to a distinguished, still evolving career in academia that has him leading the College of Aviation at Florida Tech, Deaton was honored this year with USNAEPS’ Capt. Paul R. Chatelier Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award recognizes Deaton’s “pioneering contributions to aviation research, outstanding contributions as Dean of the College of Aeronautics at Florida Tech, and unwavering dedication to advancing human factors understanding.”

“I am very proud and delighted to receive this award from my Navy colleagues past and present,” Deaton said, adding that he did not know he was in the running.

Academia has long been a key element of Deaton’s career. Concurrent with his Navy duties, he taught at several colleges and universities over the years, including Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Villanova, University of Central Florida and Rollins College. He arrived at Florida Tech in 2001.

He did not slow down with his research.

As he concluded his time in the Navy and shifted to private-sector work, Deaton continued to think like the military commander he was. He knew of the challenges military people were having in foreign cultures. The war in Iraq was underway and the men and women bound for that conflict were given a pamphlet on the culture there to read as they flew over.

Needless to say, “they weren’t interacting well with the locals,” Deaton said. “So we developed a program where they could virtually interact with the Iraqi villagers.”

This was the mid-90s and virtual reality was truly cutting-edge.

“So this was much more engaging than just reading about what you shouldn’t do. They could actually see firsthand what it would be like if you didn’t interact properly,” he said.

This impactful research was among many key projects Deaton led or was involved with over the years. He has published hundreds of papers, taught nearly 30 different courses, been involved in dozens of dissertations and still brings a scientist’s curiosity to his job as dean.

“I like doing different things. I like taking on challenges and jumping into things that other people might say, ‘Oh, no, you can’t do that.’” Deaton said. “’Well, let me just see if I can do it.’”

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