Thursday 6/27/02: Simulator Demos
Jason and Bill have been kind enough to provide HFES with demonstrations of the new flight simulator and the driving simulator (in the Auditory Lab). The flight simulator is a FAA certified state-of-the art aircraft simulation system. Both simulators are new to the human factors department and will help HF engineers/students to better understand human behavior while driving and piloting these machines. The demos will be held in in Whittemore 542 at 2:50pm. The demos will run from about 3:00-4:00 pm
Saturday 6/29/02: Tubing Adventure - Floating down the New River
Have fun in the sun by tubing down the New River with HFES on Saturday the 29th. Bring your driver's license as deposit for tubes, and shoes/sandals are required to go downriver. This should be a relaxing and fun social trip. In addition, we are having a “battle story” gathering at Myrna’s house when we return. Please feel free to bring some food or drinks along to share.
Tuesday 4/16/02: Speaker Dr. Gary Mirka, North Carolina State University
Dr. Mirka is a Professor in the Industrial Engineering Department at North Carolina State University. He received his B. S., M.S. and Ph.D from Ohio State University, with an emphasis in Ergonomics and Biomechanics.
His research interests include ergonomics, spine biomechanics, cumulative trauma disorders, electromyography, biomechanical modeling, ergonomic intervention development and testing, and ergonomics in the furniture manufacturing industry.
Dr. Mirka is a recipient of the 1993 Volvo Award for Low Back Pain Research. He also currently holds two patents for the Lumbar Motion Monitor and the Assymetric Reference Frame.
Presentation Title: “Ergonomic Interventions for the Home Building Industry”
Talk Synopsis: Dr. Mirka discussed current projects involving the construction industry and different ergonomic tools fabricated by NCSU to assist in their everyday jobs. He described the process of instructing and assisting the workers in their introduction to these tools.
Friday 4/22/02: Perspective Student Visitation Weekend
This is an event for prospective students, is taking place next weekend. HFES is involved in providing tours, transportation, and advice to our visitors. If you would like to volunteer to help out please contact one of the officers. In addition, we are holding a social gathering to show incoming students the extra-curricular side of Blacksburg. We will be meeting for dinner at the Boston Beanery on March 22 at 7:00 pm. Please come and join us for this great stress breaker.
Saturday 4/6/02: Spring Picnic Gathering
What a great event....Now See all the pictures at this page.....
Traditional Spring Picnic will take place at Blacksburg Municipal park on Saturday, April 6th from 10:00 am-4:00 pm. As always this will be a potluck style BBQ so start thinking about what you are going to bring. There will be some new games this year as well, so if you’re not interested in risking bodily injury on the soccer field, you may want to try bocci-ball, softball, tug of war, or bring your own game idea and we can organize it.
Fundraising will take place during the spring picnic this year. If you have some things you no-longer use, or a talent you would like to share, support HFES and….. auction them off! That’s right, at the spring picnic we will have an auction in which donated items will be re-sold at sweet prices. Alternatively, many members will be auctioning off a service. Some examples are donating laundry services for a week, taking somebody out for dinner etc. Please be ready to participate, all proceeds will go directly to HFES which means directly to you!
Thursday 3/14/02 Bowling with ASSE from 7:00-9:00 in Squires
Not sure what to do this Thursday night? Don't worry. HFES is holding a free-bowling night, a joint social with ASSE. It's really, totally free!! Never bowl before? No problem. We'll teach you how. This great event is also open to bowlers of all levels, beginners, masters (and Ph.Ds). Please come and have a good time!!
Thursday 3/14/02 General Assembly from 3:30-4:30 in 260 Durham
Come sit down in the ISE conference room (260 Durham hall) for a snack and a discussion regarding our society. We will be talking about upcoming events, creating new ideas, and developing our old ones. HFES received support from the faculty for the forums, so we need to decide on the topics we want to have presented.
Thursday 2/21/02 Speaker Dr David Post from 3-5pm in Squires 154
David post talked to the VT-HFES regarding the utility and benefits of national HFES involvement. For those of you who may be interested in learning more about this topic check out the national HFES we site at www.hfes.org
In addition, more information about David Post and his work, check out their lab website at http://www.hec.afrl.af.mil/new_docs/hecvb.html
Reception (food included) starts at 3:00 with the lecture beginning at 3:30
Dave Post received his Ph.D. (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Human Factors Option) from Virginia Tech in 1983. Since then, he's worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the organization known these days as the Air Force Research Laboratory. For most of that time, he's conducted research and managed contracts relating to vision and visual displays, but he's also served as the Technical Advisor for the Visual Display Systems Branch and, for the past year or so, has been the Branch Chief. He is a Fellow of HFES.
Tuesday 1/29/02 General Assembly
Our first meeting of the semester with new officers.
Mon 1/28/02 Speaker Dr. Mica Endsley from 4-5 pm, in Whittemore 518
See the presentation as she gave it in .ppt by clicking here
Also visit the website www.satechnologies.com it has many of their publications and other great reference info on Situation Awareness
Dr. MICA R. ENDSLEY is President of SA Technologies in Marietta, Georgia, a cognitive engineering firm specializing in the development of operator interfaces for advanced systems, including the next generation of systems for aviation, air traffic control, medical and military operations. Prior to forming SA Technologies she was a Visiting Associate Professor at MIT in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Texas Tech University. Dr. Endsley received a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California. She has authored over 100 scientific articles and reports on situation awareness, decision making and automation and is recognized internationally for her work in the area of situation awareness. She is co-author of two recently released books: Situation Awareness Analysis and Measurement and New Trends in Cooperative Activities. She is a Registered Professional Engineer, Certified Professional Ergonomist and is a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Designing For Situation Awareness In Complex SystemsMica R. Endsley
SA Technologies, Inc.
Marietta, Georgia USA
Situation awareness is a fundamental construct driving human decision making in a complex, dynamic environments. Several studies indicate that achieving adequate situation awareness is one of the most central and difficult portions of many decision makers' jobs, indicating that significant assistance and design work is needed.
Many efforts are finding significant difficulties in combining a human decision maker with automated decision tools. These two cognitive components apparently are not simply additive in combining to form solutions, but may interact in ways that can seriously compromise the benefits of this form of decision support.
An examination of the underlying factors associated with situation awareness and human error provides a more integrated perspective for addressing the system design issue. This perspective focusing on the means by which the human operator maintains an on-going representation of the state of the environment. By creating designs that enhance an operator's awareness of what is happening in a given situation, decision making and performance should be dramatically better. A situation awareness-oriented design process will be described that seeks to improve human decision-making and performance by optimizing situation awareness. The effects of automated systems on situation awareness will be discussed, along with recommendations for system design approaches that optimize situation awareness.