Why Auburn: Mijan Rahman

Mijan Rahman is studying how artificial intelligence can better support pilots in high-stress situations. A doctoral student in aerospace engineering from Bangladesh, he analyzes pilot responses to determine when adaptive AI tools should assist in the cockpit.

 Why Auburn

“I was an assistant professor in Bangladesh, but I wanted to come to the U.S. to pursue a doctorate. I initially enrolled at Oklahoma State, but I followed Nicoletta Fala, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, to Auburn. It turned out to be a great decision because I’ve been able to continue my research and build strong collaborations with faculty and peers.”

Why engineering

“I was always interested in technology, and I wanted to do something creative. In high school, my teachers described engineering as the perfect blend of creativity and technical problem-solving. I was fascinated by the idea of designing things that could benefit people.”

Flight research  

“I’ve worked on projects related to human factors, studying performance and limitations. At Auburn, I’ve gone deeper into understanding human behavior through cognitive and physiological measures tied to task performance. Within aerospace engineering, this means determining a pilot’s fitness to fly. We want to identify points where pilots need the most assistance from AI. We ran simulations, measuring heart rate and eye-tracking data as pilots followed a flight path. By correlating that data with deviations from the ideal flight path, we can determine when AI tools are needed.”

Auburn Experience

“The people at Auburn are very collaborative and inspire me to do better. The support system for doctoral students — especially for aerospace engineering — is strong. Auburn’s flight school is also a major asset, allowing us to collaborate closely on projects like mine. For my field, Auburn is a great place to be.”