Max Martell

Background

About Max Martell

I currently work as a Systems Engineer for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on the Indoor Environmental Quality Team 2, where I conduct research and engineering efforts in a variety of fields, including human factors, generative AI with LLMs, occupational safety and health, human-systems and human-AI interaction, advanced lighting and visual science, Earth and geospatial modeling, indoor air quality, web development and analytics, databases, and residential building systems. Previously, I worked as a Lighting Engineer for KBR, in support of the Habitability and Human Factors Branch Lighting Lab at NASA Johnson Space Center, where I performed research, analysis, evaluation, and usability testing on lighting systems for space vehicles and habitats, including the ISS, Orion, Gateway, and Lunar Lander programs. While finishing my Master's at RPI, I worked on the Light & Health team of the Lighting Research Center, where I helped to conduct research on the physiological impacts of light, including acute effects on alertness and other cognitive processes, and circadian rhythm effects on melatonin suppression. I assisted in the development of programs for human subject testing, and in the data collection and statistical analysis of human performance tests and EEG recordings. I conducted safety, health, and human factors research at CDC-NIOSH involving illumination and visual interventions for improving situational awareness that includes work in developing LED technology to improve visual acuity and hazard detection, laser and fiber optic guidance systems for emergency operations, and lighting field measurement regulations. I have lead research in using human-centric design for the mitigation of fatigue and circadian rhythm disruption in low-light environments. These projects seek to reduce injuries and fatalities by providing visual interventions and a better understanding of light to the challenges of safety and health. I served as an airworthiness engineering intern at NASA Wallops Flight Facility, where my experience was in the structural and aerospace design of aircraft components for the airborne scientific research missions of the P-3 Orion aircraft, and the project management of the Pioneer Unmanned Aerial System (UAV). I was a research fellow for the NASA Alaska Space Grant, for which my research was in remote and automated drilling and sampling with applications to the subterranean exploration of extreme environments.