Holland is in the habit of doing more than one thing at a time. He has dual bachelor degrees in math and physics from Emory and Henry, and a master's degree in geophysics from Virginia Tech. He became interested in human engineering in the military while doing pilot training. Upon completion of pilot training, he returned to Virginia Tech for the master's degree in systems engineering, working full time at General Electric in Salem as a human factors and safety engineer. His specific research interest is long-duration space flight problems, and aviation safety issues.
Space flight imposes much the same conditions.
Group dynamics is an area we have to study. Holland has published 15 articles on aerospace medical and human factors topics, written two chapters in the textbook Ergonomics , and co-chaired panels at national meetings. He is a member of the Aerospace Medical Association, and the Human Factors Society. He is a captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with more than 1,600 hours of flight time in a variety of aircraft. Holland is a teaching assistant and active in student government.