HFIG Talks...

In this episode, we talked with Dr. Deborah Boehm-Davis, University Professor Emeritus of Psychology and former Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University. Dr. Boehm-Davis talks about her experience working in the human factors industry for over 30 years at organizations including NASA, General Electric Company, George Mason University, and Meta (formerly Oculus Research). She speaks about the applications of human factors in areas including aviation, telecommunications, administrative contexts, and everyday life. Dr. Boehm-Davis also discusses some of the fascinating projects she's worked on relating to workplace ergonomics, workload, human-computer interaction and interfaces, training, and interruption and quality of work. She also shares about working with the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society from her perspective as a former President and provides advice for students and young professionals interested in starting their careers in human factors.

Episode music:

The Happiest Side Of Science by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6905-the-happiest-side-of-science

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode we talked to Jason Laberge, the Director of the Provincial Human Factors and Provincial Simulation teams at Alberta Health Services (AHS). Jason talks about his experience working in the human factors industry for over 20 years and most recently his experience in a leadership role at AHS and the role human factors can play in healthcare. Jason discusses the fascinating work his teams at AHS do and some of their projects including workspace design, use of simulation for evaluating designs such as ambulances, checklists and forms, medical devices, the design of early warning decision support systems, and more. Finally, Jason wraps up giving his advice for students and young professionals interested in starting their careers in human factors.

Episode music:

The Happiest Side Of Science by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6905-the-happiest-side-of-science

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, we talked to Trevor Hall, Vice President of Safety and Risk Management at the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC) and flex-time PhD student at the Interactive Media Lab at the University of Toronto. Trevor talks about his career journey into human factors in healthcare, which has included working as a firefighter, training as a nurse, and attending business school, and discusses how his experiences have informed his work as a human factors practitioner. Trevor also discusses his current work with HIROC and the Interactive Media Lab, which involves the application of persuasive design concepts in patient safety, and provides advice for students and early career professionals who are interested in a career at the intersection of human factors and patient safety.

Episode music:

The Happiest Side Of Science by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6905-the-happiest-side-of-science

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, we talked to Prof. Jamy Li, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Ryerson University. Prof. Li specializes in the field of human-robot interaction and conducts research on a variety of different areas such as socially assistive robots and voice assistants. In this conversation, Prof. Li discusses his background and his current research, the links between human-robot interaction and human factors, and his thoughts on how research in human-robot interaction will evolve moving forward.

See this link for additional resources related to this episode.

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This episode is the final part of our 3-episode series on Early Career Experiences in UX. We interviewed various UX professionals to hear about their educational background, paths to UX, career experience, and more. In this episode, HFIG talks to Diba Kaya, a former UofT student who has worked at Google and Amazon and is now a Senior Lead Researcher at Ithaka.

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This episode is the second in our 3-part series on Early Career Experiences in UX. We’ll be interviewing various UX professionals to hear about their educational background, paths to UX, career experience, and more. In this episode, HFIG talks to Dr. Anthony Soung Yee, a Senior Healthcare Risk Management Specialist at the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC). Our guest host for this episode is Professor Deborah Tihanyi from the University of Toronto’s Engineering Communication Program.

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This episode is the first in a series of episodes on Early Career Experiences in UX. We’ll be interviewing various UX professionals to hear about their educational background, paths to UX, career experience, and more. In this episode, HFIG talks to Dandi Feng, a UX Researcher at Thomson Reuters.

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In this episode, HFIG talks to Dr. John Flach, Senior Cognitive Systems Engineer at Mile Two in Ohio, and Dr. Alex Kirlik, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Flach and Dr. Kirlik share insights into the past, present, and future of HF, the subjects of ecological psychology and control theory, and many other topics!

In this episode, HFIG talks to Dr. Caroline Cao, a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at IMT Atlantique in France and a Professor of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering at Wright State University, and Dr. Barrett Caldwell, a Professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. We talked about the role of human factors in the design process, how we can educate engineering students and industry professionals about the importance of human factors, and how we should raise awareness among the public about the value of human factors in their everyday lives.

Additional resources:

Episode music:

The Happiest Side Of Science by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6905-the-happiest-side-of-science License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, HFIG talks to Dr. Myrtede Alfred, Assistant Professor in the department of Industrial Engineering at University of Toronto. Dr. Alfred shares her academic journey to becoming a human factors professor, the academic hiring process during the pandemic, her research plans at UofT, and her insights into future trends in human factors research. 

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