Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as "a genius in the art of living." Gilbreth, one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D., is considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist. She and her husband, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, were efficiency experts who contributed to the study of industrial engineering, especially in the areas of motion study and human factors. Cheaper by the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by two of their children tell the story of their family life and describe how time-and-motion studies were applied to the organization and daily activities of their large family. Both books were later made into feature films.
Kim Vicente is an inactive professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. He was previously a researcher, teacher, and author in the field of human factors. He is best known for his two books: The Human Factor and Cognitive Work Analysis.
Thomas B. Sheridan is American professor of mechanical engineering and Applied Psychology Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a pioneer of robotics and remote control technology.
Shimon Y. Nof is a professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has held visiting positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at universities in Chile, the European Union, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Taiwan, and UK. He is the Director of the Production, Robotics and Integration Software for the Manufacturing & Management (PRISM) Center at Purdue.
Industrial ergonomics programs seek to identify and correct factors that negatively impact the physical health of their workers. Participatory ergonomics programs seek to maximize the involvement of the workers in this process based on the simple fact that a worker is an expert on his or her job. The participatory approach to ergonomics relies on actively involving workers in implementing ergonomic knowledge, procedures and changes with the intention of improving working conditions, safety, productivity, quality, morale and/or comfort.
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information and equipment. Industrial engineering is central to manufacturing operations.
The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived between 1822 and 1913. When AAES was dissolved in 2020, the administration of the Fritz medal was transferred to the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), and is currently coordinated by AIME member society, the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, & Exploration (SME).
Human factors and ergonomics is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goals of human factors engineering are to reduce human error, increase productivity and system availability, and enhance safety, health and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and equipment.
John Brian Long is a British computer scientist and Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Engineering at the University College London, known for his work on "cognitive ergonomics and human-computer interaction."
David Shinar is one of the most prominent and productive researchers in the area of traffic safety, and a professor emeritus at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Mica Endsley is an engineer and a former Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force. The position of the Chief Scientist was created over 60 years ago to provide independent scientific advice to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, as well as to its senior leadership. In this role, she worked with the top scientists and engineers within the Air Force as well as in academia, industry, and the other armed services to ensure that the Air Force's research and development efforts remain relevant and effective. Additionally, as the Chief Scientist she responded to any tasking from the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff on issues or opportunities of a scientific and technical nature that may arise. Endsley was the first human factors engineer and the first female to serve as Chief Scientist.
The International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) is an academic multi-conference that includes several affiliated conferences, jointly held under one management and one registration. The conference provides an international forum for the exchange of scientific information on theoretical, generic, and applied areas of ergonomics, including physical ergonomics, cognitive and neuroergonomics, social and occupational ergonomics, affective and pleasurable design, and systems engineering. The conference includes keynote presentations, parallel sessions, poster sessions, tutorials, exhibits, and special interest meetings. Submissions are peer-reviewed and published in the conference proceedings; select papers are also expanded and published in AHFE Edited Conference Books.
World Engineering Anthropometry Resource (WEAR) is an international not-for-profit group that "provides a digital platform for sharing anthropometric data from around the world." It is registered in Europe but its members and partners are from all over the globe. It is made up of “a group of interested experts involved in the application of anthropometry data for design purposes.”
Peter Adrian Hancock is a British-American scientist of human factors and ergonomics, author, and expert witness. He is a Provost Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training, as well as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems at the University of Central Florida. He is the research director of the Minds in Technology−Machines in Thought research laboratory at the University of Central Florida.
Nadine Barbara Sarter is a German-American industrial engineer interested in multimodal interaction, touch user interfaces, aircraft cockpit controls, and the ergonomics of human-machine interfaces. She is Richard W. Pew Collegiate Professor of Industrial & Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Center for Ergonomics and is also affiliated with the Robotics Institute and Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Ken Parsons was born and spent his early life in the North East of England. His early academic promise was evident in his primary school and he gained a place at grammar school where in 1971 he achieved grades for a place at Loughborough University from where he graduated with a degree in Ergonomics in 1974. After a year at Hughes Hall, Cambridge University in 1980 he was awarded a PhD from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton University He returned to Loughborough University and founded the Human Thermal Environments Laboratory in 1981. He went on to gain international renown in the field of Human Thermal Environments and to be an authority in the field. He has published a number of definitive texts.
Daniel Gopher is a professor (Emeritus) of Cognitive psychology and Human Factors Engineering at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. He held the Yigal Alon Chair for the Study of Humans at Work at the Technion. Gopher is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Psychonomic Society and the International Ergonomics Association.
Richard John Koubek is an American engineer and university administrator serving as the 11th president of Michigan Technological University since 2018. He formerly served as executive vice president and provost at Louisiana State University. Prior to joining LSU, Koubek was professor and head of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University and he has held the posts of professor and chair for the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, and associate dean for research and graduate studies for the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University.
Joachim Meyer is Celia and Marcos Maus Professor for Data Sciences at the Department of Industrial Engineering at Tel-Aviv University. His work deals with human decisions in interactions with intelligent systems and he is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Aura C. Matias is a Filipino industrial engineer. Her academic research concerns ergonomics and human–computer interaction; she has also applied her expertise in industrial engineering to issues in the society of the Philippines including the quality of water services, and corruption in government agencies. She is a professor of industrial engineering and operations research at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where she is the former dean of engineering and former executive director of the National Engineering Center.
