Planned Activities:
| Networking for Conferences (2023) | |
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The opportunity to meet, connect, and discuss research with your fellow academics or future employers will help you with your own career and research. However, networking at conferences can feel like a daunting and overwhelming task. Come learn some tips and tricks to make a positive impression during and after conferences. The workshop includes an opportunity to practice with your peers. |
Past Activities:
| Tour: Healthcare Human Factors Lab at Emory (2023) | |||||
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The HFES chapter went on a fieldtrip to the Healthcare Human Factors Lab (HHFL) which leveraged a cross-disciplinary team to deepen our understanding of healthcare workers, the equipment, technology, and environments with which they interact. We saw the complexity and demand of healthcare workers’ jobs and seek to make jobs safer and easier, enabling healthcare workers to focus on providing excellent patient care. | ||||
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The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) hosted a special exhibit titled “Drink in Design” in which visitors could learn about the origins/designs of useful everyday items such as Velcro and cans, all while sipping a drink on the house! | ||||
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Students toured the human factors department of the AT&T offices in Atlanta and spoke with current employees about research and career opportunities at AT&T. |
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The tour began with introductions and moved quickly to demonstrations and tours covering method development, comfort and fit testing, dispensing, skin testing, physiological testing. It concluded with a tour of the KimSim lab—a simulated hospital room—where a lot of human factors testing is done for medical devices. This portion of the tour was led by the Design team. | ||||
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The chapter toured Meadwestvaco. During the tour, the chapter learned about Project Neptune – This project centers around hydration multipacks (bottled water, enhanced water, sports beverages) and the unmet consumer needs associated. Ethnographic research, focus group, and quantitative consumer insights would be covered. We would also review how this research leads to package design concept, product selection, and pricing. The tour also included Q&A; Interactive “what’s next?” How would the group go from concept to commercialization? Finally, the chapter toured the Atlanta design facilities. This is one of the largest paperboard carton converting facilities in North America. This is also where FridgeMaster® / FridgePack is made. | ||||
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Big Bang helps companies develop products and services with an understanding that there are two distinct new product development goals: discovering what’s next and implementing products today. Each requires a very different set of processes and tools.” The Big Bang tour consisted primarily of a presentation covering the process (discovery and implementation) used specifically at the company, as well as a very extensive Q&A session. The CEO of the company gave the overview and therefore had a lot of knowledge not only about his own company but other companies, large and small, in the field. They presented us with overviews of many of the projects they had worked on, as well as discussed the methods and tools they use in each phase of their process. | ||||
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As a joint event with HFES-ATL, the Chapter toured Lockheed Martin. The tour began with a brief presentation by several of the employees at Lockheed. They spoke about the role of the human factors team at the company, and how they interact with other teams on various projects. Next, we were given guided tours of the aircraft hangar and two flight simulators where interface solutions are tested. We were given the opportunity to fly each of the simulators. The tour ended with a relatively in-depth presentation about an empirical study carried out, in which a small visual design modification was shown to have a substantial impact on pilots’ control of the aircraft. | ||||
| Speaker: Bruce Walker |
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We hosted Dr. Bruce Walker for a guest lecture titled “Human-Computer Interaction Methods to support Business Model”. Dr. Walker is a professor of Psychology and Computing. His overarching goal is to ensure that technology is developed with the end user in mind. All aspects of design, implementation, adoption, and use of a system or device can be enhanced by considering the perceptual, cognitive, and social needs and abilities of those who will use it. |
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This talk was co-organized with the HFES Atlanta Chapter. Bill Johnson, PhD, a member of the HFES Atlanta Chapter, was invited to Georgia Tech School of Psychology to speak. The student chapter provided refreshments. Dr. Johnson spoke about aviation maintenance and human factors and ergonomics related issues in training workers that perform this job. | ||||
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This talk was co-organized with the HFES Atlanta Chapter. Francis T. (Frank) Durso, a Professor of Psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Engineering Psychology program, was invited to speak. Dr. Durso’s current research interests focus on cognitive and strategic factors responsible for managing and updating dynamic situations such as those found in air traffic control and health care as well as the causes of comprehension lapses in such domains. | ||||
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This talk was co-organized with the HFES Atlanta Chapter. Dr. Linda Elliott’s presentation was titled “Overview of Human Factors Research at Fort Benning: Robots, night vision, and tactile systems.” Linda R. Elliott, PhD, is a research psychologist at the Army Research Lab – Human Research and Engineering Directorate (ARL/HRED) field element located at the US Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning, Georgia. | ||||