Dr. Albert Harrison

Albert A. (Al) Harrison received his BA and MA in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1967, he joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, and in 1979 he advanced to Professor of Psychology. Now Professor Emeritus, he is the author or co-author of approximately 100 papers in a wide range of journals, his books include Living Aloft: Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight (with Mary Connors and Faren Akins, NASA, 1985), From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement (with Yvonne A. Clearwater and Christopher P. McKay, Springer-Verlag, 1991), After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life (Plenum, 1997) and, Spacefaring: The Human Dimension (University of California Press, 2001). His most recent book, "Starstruck: Cosmic Visions in Science Religion and Folklore" describes how new scientific findings about our place in the universe are encouraging people to find new answers to old existential questions. Al was a member of NASA’s Space Human Factors Engineering Science and Technology Working Group and is a member of the Permanent SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is currently involved in planetary defense (protecting the Earth from asteroids and comets) and is currently chairing a subgroup of the Academy’s Space Architecture Study Group. In December, 2003 Al was PI of a NASA-sponsored conference on new directions in behavioral health, and has recently edited a special supplement on this topic for Aviation, Space & Environmental Medicine (June, 2005). He is former deputy US editor of Systems Research and Behavioral Science and a science advisor to Bigelow Aerospace. He may be reached at aaharrison@ucdavis.edu. He is now Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UC Davis, Davis California.

Broadcast 926 (Special Edition)

Guests: Dr. Jim Pass, Dr. Al Harrison, and Tom Gangale were the guests for today's Space Show program to discuss astrosociology and the social science role in space education as well as space development. We started our discussion with an update from Jim, Al, and Tom about their panel discussion at the recent Contact Conference, "Astrosociology and 21st Century Space Exploration." You will not want to miss this comprehensive, far reaching, and important discussion.

Broadcast 762 (Special Edition)

Dr. Al Harrison was the guest for this Space Show program. Note that this program has phone line audio issues that cannot be processed out of the recording. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes you in listening to this exceptional program. Dr. Harrison is the author of the new book, "Starstruck: Cosmic Visions in Science, Religion, and Folklore." As a psychologist, Dr. Harrison is certainly qualified to examine the relationships we have with space, cultures, physics, astronomy, myths, and extraterrestrial life.

Broadcast 654 (Special Edition)

Dr. Al Harrison and Dr. Jim Pass were the special guests for this Space Show program. We began our discussion by having Dr. Pass provide us with a working definition for the subject and field of astrosociology. We continued with this definition when we came back from the first break as Dr. Harrison shared some of his experiences with the discipline through his academic career. Listeners asked questions about sociological issues as well as human factors psychology issues regarding long term space flight, space settlements, and related issues.

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