A Syracuse University professor is researching the ways in which communication technologies can assist veterans with the transition back to civilian life.

Bryan Semaan, an assistant professor at SU’s School of Information Studies, was awarded a grant of $173,205 by the National Science Foundation to fund this research.

Semaan said there are three aspects to his research: interviewing veterans, collecting data on veterans’ online activity and participatory design to create a device that helps veterans’ transition to civilian life. The participatory design aspect, Semaan said, is based upon a Scandinavian design practice and worldview, which is illustrated by an example that furniture retailer IKEA has used by only selling circular tables, so no one has a position of power at the table.

“I’m sort of employing this design practice that emerged out of Scandinavian tradition, which treats the participants, or in this case the veterans, as designers,” Semaan said. “This is really about empowering them.”

During the study, veterans will come in for interviews regularly, discuss their needs and eventually begin to design a wearable device that will help them identify triggers of emotional episodes.

This study continues a long history of Syracuse University’s focus on veterans’ support. This relationship dates back to World War I, but was truly cemented after World War II when then-Chancellor William Tolley helped draft the GI Bill, said Nicholas Armstrong, the senior director of research and evaluation at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at SU.

At that point, Armstrong said, there were only a few thousand students enrolled at SU.

“Overnight, he opened the door to transitioning servicemembers who wanted to get a college education after coming back from the war,” Armstrong said. “It nearly tripled the enrollment within 18 months. That’s really what made Syracuse University the research university that it is today.”

Some veterans have said they would go back for their fifth, sixth or seventh combat tour, because they don’t feel comfortable on a university campus, Armstrong said.

“It’s about creating a supportive campus climate,” Armstrong said. “Universities that value the skills that they bring to the college classroom help enrich discussion. It makes the classroom an even better learning environment.”

Armstrong has collaborated with Semaan in a pilot study for the research and will continue to provide recruitment support for participants throughout the study. Semaan will also work on the study with Kyle Possemato, a psychologist at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The study will officially begin this June and will run for two years, but Semaan said he initially became interested in studying communication technologies and survivors of traumatic events as a Ph.D. student. Semaan, who is of Iraqi descent, studied the effects technologies had on Iraqi citizens adjusting to their lives and routines during the Iraq war.

Semaan said he has already interviewed about 29 veterans and has noticed some common themes. For example, he said, veterans who did not enter the Army through enlistment have seemed to have more success transitioning back to civilian life.

Another theme Semaan said he has noticed is the difficulty many veterans have with talking about their emotional struggles, due to a culture of masculinity in the military, he said.

“It’s very difficult to actually talk about their experiences because talking about psychological issues kind of goes against this concept of being strong,” Semaan said. “The military’s really all about performance. So, you have to go and perform. It doesn’t matter how you feel. It doesn’t matter what you’re experiencing. You’ve got to go and do your work.”

This research is a study of identity, Semaan said. Many veterans, Semaan added, enjoyed their military experience because it provides structure and a sense of purpose. One veteran Semaan interviewed described feeling like a character from the film “The Shawshank Redemption” after leaving the military.

In the film, the character is released from prison and then kills himself because they felt lost.

“She talked about how it felt like that character,” Semaan said. “She left and nothing made sense to her. She didn’t know who she was anymore. You really lose your sense of identity.”

Semaan said the goal is to interview another 90 veterans and have approximately 30 involved in the participatory design to create the device.

This research, Armstrong said, has potential to help veterans in transition.

“I think this could help inform both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, in terms of adapting new technologies that would help advance veterans’ lives after they serve,” Armstrong said.

Published on April 16, 2017 at 8:15 pm

Contact Nicole: nvalinot@syr.edu