Blogs

HFES Public Outreach Chair, Bethany Lowndes, published in Medical Products Outsourcing

By Steve Kemp posted 05-23-2024
HFES Public Outreach Chair, Bethany Lowndes, published in Medical Products Outsourcing View the article .

Join Me at the 64th Annual Meeting of HFES!

By Steve Kemp posted 08-20-2020
As the Chair of the 64th International Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, it is my pleasure to invite you to join me at HFES 2020! This also happens to be our first virtual Annual Meeting. Several months ago, as COVID-19 first appeared, we had to anticipate what the world might look like in October at the time of the Annual Meeting. Foremost, we worried for the health of those who might attend the in-person meeting in Chicago. We also considered potential legal limits on meeting sizes (the Annual Meeting is a big event!) and the possible ramifications of the financial health of the Society in the event of a last-minute cancellation. ...

International Ergonomics Association (IEA) K.U. Smith Student Award

By Steve Kemp posted 07-20-2020
The IEA K.U. Smith Student Award honors deserving students responsible for contributions to human factors/ergonomics (HF/E). Awards will be presented during the IEA 2021 Triennial Congress in Vancouver, Canada. The Award winners each will receive a cash award of US $3,000. A travel stipend also may be awarded. Any student enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution worldwide is eligible. A student wishing to apply for the award should submit the following documents via email (see contact information below): (1) A full copy of a paper that the student has authored, which documents an HF/E contribution. The student should be first author on a coauthored ...

Training Technical Group Student Grant Award

By Lindsey Kim posted 07-08-2020
Dear Training TG Members, The HFES Training Technical Group is pleased to announce a request for proposals for the 2020 Training TG Student Grant Award. The recipient of the best proposal will be awarded $750 to help cover expenses including, but not limited to, research materials or equipment, research participant payments, and registration to the virtual HFES annual meeting. To be eligible for consideration, students are asked to submit the following materials to Andy Dattel ( Andy.Dattel@erau.edu ) no later than 11:59pm EDT, Friday, July 31, 2020. Required materials include: Cover letter (Include name, current mailing and email addresses, names ...

Supreme Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Effort to Rescind DACA

By Lindsey Kim posted 07-06-2020
By Lewis-Burke Associates The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a 5-4 ruling striking down President Trump’s 2017 attempt to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. DACA is a program, established by the Obama Administration in 2012, that protects nearly 650,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children from deportation. The Supreme Court’s majority argued that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act by not giving a proper justification for its decision. The majority stated in its argument that DHS failed to provide sufficient justification to rescind the ...

HFES and American Industrial Hygiene Association Collaborate on Videos Examining Ergonomics of Working and Schooling from Home

By Steve Kemp posted 06-30-2020
A video collaboration between AIHA and HFES examining the ergonomics of working (and schooling) from home. View the YouTube page here .

President Trump Issues Proclamation Placing Restrictions on Visas

By Lindsey Kim posted 06-24-2020
By Lewis-Burke Associates On June 22, President Trump issued “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The proclamation is an extension and expansion of previous presidential proclamations restricting immigration. While the proclamation impacts visas important to higher education and research (H-1B, H-4, and some J-1 visas), it does not impact the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, as was initially feared. The proclamation suspends, through December 31, 2020, the entry of certain individuals who are outside the United States and do not have in their possession, as ...

In-Person Annual Meeting Cancelled; Online Annual Meeting Planned

By Steve Kemp posted 06-03-2020
Dear HFES members and other friends and colleagues: We realize that many of you have been eager to learn whether we will meet in Chicago this October for our 64 th Annual Meeting. and apologize for only now communicating on this matter; however, there were so many important variables that had to be investigated, discussed, and evaluated. Among these are the safety of our meeting attendees, the reasonableness of assembling more than 1,600 of our members, exhibitors, guest speakers, and others in enclosed spaces during this time of ongoing health concerns due to COVID-19, the associated financial implications including the potential of substantive financial ...

On Racism, Bias, Diversity, and Inclusion

By Steve Kemp posted 06-03-2020
The protests of the last several days have highlighted for many the ongoing, deep-seated racism that black and brown people, including members of our own HF/E community, face each day. HFES stands firm in the fight against racism. However, our beliefs may not always reflect biases we carry without our knowledge. In this moment, it behooves us all to look within ourselves to identify any bias we may carry as a result of having lived in a biased society. We owe it to our members, to the scientific and academic communities, to our Society's next generation, and to the public to continuously improve and not be silent. We will create opportunity for continuous ...

2020 Call for Officer and Executive Council Nominations

By Steve Kemp posted 05-14-2020
If you have submitted nominations for this year's election, please accept our sincere thanks for participating. If you have not, then please give thought to nominating a deserving potential candidate or even consider self-nominating. Here's why: Participating as a member of the HFES Executive Council provides many professional and personal benefits for those who volunteer. Chief among them is that being part of the Executive Council provides a great opportunity to enhance one’s leadership skills. It also provides members with another ‘team’ to work with outside of their employment, giving them a chance to learn new skills or enhance current skill sets. Moreover, ...

HFES Advocates for Federal Research Funding in FY 2021 Outside Witness Testimony

By Lindsey Kim posted 04-29-2020
By Lewis-Burke Associates HFES submitted written testimony to multiple congressional Appropriations Subcommittees in March calling for robust investment in science and technology at federal agencies to strengthen HF/E expertise and processes in critical sectors. HFES submits testimony to Congress in support of its appropriations priorities each fiscal year. Congress considers testimony from HFES and other advocates as it considers funding in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 Appropriations process. HFES’s FY 2021 priorities include: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ...

Complimentary Webinar: The MAGIC of Semantic IxD - Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 1:00 - 2:00 pm Eastern

By Steve Kemp posted 04-28-2020
The MAGIC of Semantic IxD |Register Today| Do you know how much cognitive load your design ideas will place on the user even before you sketch out the first screen? If the cognitive load of your UX design is too high, users will find your product difficult and unpleasant to use. It's possible to measure cognitive load in a usability lab, but by then it is too late and too expensive to fix the underlying problems. The solution? You need to know how much cognitive load your users will face and mitigate it at the beginning of your design projects. In other words, a technique to minimize cognitive load should guide your design practice from the very ...

ASTM Committee F48 and Exo Technology Center of Excellence Announces Best Student Paper Award

By Christopher Reid posted 04-22-2020
This student paper competition is co-sponsored by Committee F48 on Exoskeletons and Exosuits and the ASTM Exo Technology Center of Excellence. This award is given to encourage students to develop, present, and publish high quality research papers in the area of exo technologies, which include exoskeletons, exosuits, and related wearable technologies. The 2020 theme is, Designing Safe Exoskeletons and Exosuits . Students are encouraged to identify relevant standards and discuss strategies to test and demonstrate the safety of these devices. More information: https://www.etcoe.org/student-competition/f48-student-paper-award Awards A cash prize will ...

Register to Attend the May 18 - 21 HFES Health Care Symposium - Online Edition!

By Steve Kemp posted 04-22-2020
The coronavirus (COVID-19) situation resulted in HFES leadership making the difficult decision to cancel the Health Care Human Factors Symposium that was to convene in Toronto in March. We are pleased we are able to modify our plans and can deliver a virtual healthcare human factors symposium centered around the same workshops, tracks and sessions as the planned in-person symposium. All lecture and poster presenters will have the opportunity to present during this four-day virtual event . Five workshops will be offered on May 18. All originally accepted oral and poster presenters are welcome to contribute a paper to the proceedings that will be published ...

Deadline to Apply for the Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award Extended to June 30, 2020

By Lindsey Kim posted 04-16-2020
Due to the current world crisis and changes at universities, the deadline to apply for the Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award has been extended to 30 June 2020. Take the time now to write up that project you worked on and submit to the Foundation for Professional Ergonomics (FPE). This annual FPE award and is given to the student (or group of students) for an Ergonomics project that demonstrates the major practice areas of Ergonomics: Analysis, Design, and Integration. The award is open, world wide, to students (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Ergonomics and Ergonomics-related programs. Students who have completed their graduate degrees in the past year are also ...

Human Factors Invites Submissions Consisting of Short Reviews that Elucidate How the HFE Knowledge Base Can Contribute to Addressing the Corona Virus Crisis

By Lindsey Kim posted 04-16-2020
Human Factors invites submissions consisting of short reviews that elucidate how the HFE knowledge base can contribute to addressing the Corona Virus crisis . These will be similar to our At the Forefront feature, a synthesis and integration of the state of the art, limited to 2500 words and 45 references. We will provide an expedited turn-around and put papers on line as they are accepted. Topics can include any aspect of the pandemic that affects human behavior and performance. Examples include compliance with mitigation strategies (handwashing, social distancing), alternative forms of communication (videoconferencing, collaboration via the internet, home ...

The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) Releases Its First Quarter Recommendations

By Lindsey Kim posted 04-16-2020
By Lewis-Burke Associates The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence ( NSCAI ) released its first quarter recommendations to maintain U.S. leadership in the development and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Established in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), NSCAI is an independent Commission; with members representing industry, academia, and civil society organizations; that seeks to develop policy recommendations that advance the development of AI and ensure that it strengthens the American workforce, industry, innovation, values, and national security. HFES advocated for NSCAI’s creation in the FY 2019 NDAA, ...

Call for Applications to the HFES Science Policy Fellowship Program

By Lauren Taggart posted 04-08-2020
The HFES Science Policy Fellowship (SPF) program provides a valuable opportunity for HFES members to learn how to successfully advocate for human factors and ergonomics on the national stage. SPF Participants will receive extensive training in public affairs, advocacy and outreach to be provided by Lewis-Burke Associates and the HFES Government Relations Committee during the HFES Annual Meeting. They will also participate in an annual spring Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C., including a Hill visit training session and a policy-related speaker prior to the visit day. They will be invited to attend monthly conference calls with Lewis-Burke and the HFES Government ...

Human Factors and Ergonomics - Activities to Support the Ongoing COVID-19 Response

By Steve Kemp posted 04-03-2020
HF/E can help address many problems associated with the COVID Pandemic. Please review our statements on the following and share with your social networks. 1) HF/E Applied to COVID in Healthcare Organizations 2) Addressing Fatigue, Stress and Burnout of Healthcare Workers 3) Effective Communications 4) HF/E for Disaster Response

U-led Human Factors Consortium Improves Medical Device Design

By Lindsey Kim posted 04-02-2020
U-led Human Factors Consortium Improves Medical Device Design Rice University joins, brings expertise to consortium Mar. 30, 2020— A University of Utah-led consortium to improve the design of medical devices welcomes Rice University as its newest partner. The Human Factors MEdical DevIce Consortium (hfMEDIC) serves as a consulting resource for medical device manufacturers looking to improve usability and safety of their products. “For medical devices, it always comes down to: Is it usable or not?” says Frank Drews, professor of psychology and director of hfMEDIC. “And if something is not usable, well, you don't use it. That has a huge impact on the ...