# New research: Human-structure interaction using ACT-R A few weeks ago, I began working in a new research project. This project will study the human-structure interaction in emergency situations. Civil engineers have expertice in measuring the consequences an emergency situation (e.g. earthquake) may have in a structure (e.g. school). These measurements can be condensed into **decision variables (DV)**. The goal of calculating a DV prior to an emergency is to build structures that have a DV within the accepted range. But when an emergency occurs, it is not only the structures that are affected. Rather, one may say that sometimes human beings are the most affected; people get stressed, traumatized or die. These consequences are certainly critical and worth considering. Given this, the DV must also consider a **human factor**. For this reason, a multidisciplinary team of engineers and psychologists was formed, led by PhD Juan Carlos De La Llera (Civil Engineer). The goal of this team is to develop the corresponding experiments, measurements and simulations in order to push science to consider the **human factor** in the **decision variables** of a structure. Similar research has been done before, using agent-based modeling. Nonetheless, one of the novelties of this research is to consider a more complex human agent, using the knowledge that decades of cognitive psychology have made available. To make this, the first step will be to use a tool called [ACT-R](http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/) (\akt-ahr\) to simulate the human brain in emergency situations. ACT-R is a cognitive architecture, which we will use to simulate and measure what happens in the human brain in environments of extreme stress. This is where my expertice in computer science will come in handy and where I will be working with a group of psychologists, lead by PhD Edmundo Kronmüller (Cognitive Psychologist). I believe that this project will be of great fun for me and of great value for the world. There will definitely be more posts about my work in ACT-R during the next months.