As an Adjunct Associate Professor at Concordia University and collaborating scientist, Dr Kass has lectured and carried out research with Concordia’s Department of Applied Human Sciences in the domain of human behaviour, group dynamics and team work. Some key experiments carried out were in isolation environments: With the Canadian Space Agencies CAPSULS mission where four Canadian astronauts were isolated for a week of psychological experiments.

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Dr Kass has lectured at the ISU (http://www.isunet.edu/ ) over the years in several domains: In the area of medical experimentation in human spaceflight in ISU’s summer programme in Barcelona, Spain; and in the area of group dynamics and team work in ISU’s Master’s programme in Strassbourg, France.

As a research fellow at the University of Mainz, Institute of Physiology, Dr Kass carried out research in the domain of neuro-sensory physiology mainly in the context of understanding the functioning of the human balance organs (otoliths and semi-circular canals) by performing a series of vestibular experiments in human space flight, neutral buoyance, parabolic flight, ground-based tilt-tables, and a human sled.

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In the early stage of Dr Kass’ research career, he participated in research at the Max-Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Institute for Chemistry (Otto-Hahn-Institute), Department of Nuclear Physics. The institute’s large van de Graaff generator was used to investigate processes in atomic nuclei.

Representing the European Space Agency, Directorate of Human Space flight, Dr Kass was a member of the Working Group on Multicultural & International Issues in Spaceflight Research & Healthcare, set up by the NSBRI (Houston, Texas).

The WG was made up of renowned psychologists experienced in this domain, and representatives from several space agencies, including NASA, the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems - IBMP, Canadian Space Agency - CSA, The Japanese Space Agency - NASDA (now JAXA). The WG was coordinated by Dr Robert Helmreich, Professor, Dep. of Psychology, University of Texas.

Part of a collaborative research relationship with this institute was a set of psycho-social group dynamics experiments carried out during a long-duration isolation simulation, SFINCSS-99 Simulation of Flight of International Crew on Space Station) mission, at Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Biomedical Problems – IBMP. This isolation experiment was organized in preparation for international operations on the International Space Station (ISS). Three teams of four were isolated over a period of 240 days at the IBMP’s isolation chamber complex, Moscow.

The UCL Centre for Space Medicine – CSM, in conjunction with the Centre for Aviation, Space & Extreme Environment (CASE) Medicine, has been offering a series of courses on Space Medicine and Extreme Environment Physiology, which Dr Kass has been supporting since more than 10 years, with a workshop on psychological issues in long-duration human spaceflight and group dynamics, with emphasis on leadership and handling conflict.

At the University of Leeds, England, in the School of Physics & Astronomy, where Dr Kass was a Research Assistant, work was carried out in collaboration with the University of Michigan, Department of Physics, on the search for the building blocks of matter (1/3e Quarks). The Leeds Cloud Chamber, the largest of its kind in the world, was used to enable the search in large cosmic-ray air showers. Dr Kass was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Leeds for his work.

Funded by a research stipend from the University of Michigan, Department of Physics, Dr Kass carried out research on the building blocks of matter (1/3e Quarks) at the University of Leeds, England, in the School of Physics & Astronomy, where Dr Kass was a Research Assistant. The Leeds Cloud Chamber, the largest of its kind in the world, was used to enable the search in large cosmic-ray air showers.