Human Factors & Ergonomics Society at the University of Michigan

HFES-Related Courses At UM

Fall Semester

IOE 333: Ergonomics

Introduction to human sensory decision, control, and motor systems in the context of visual, auditory, cognitive, and manual task evaluation and design. Problems with computer displays, illumination, noise, eye-hand coordination, as well as repetitive and high physical effort tasks are presented. Work place and vehicle design strategies used to resolve these are discussed.

IOE 438: Occupational Safety Management

Survey of occupational safety management methods, theories and activities. Topics include: history of safety engineering, management, and worker compensation; collection and critical analysis of accident data; safety standards, regulations and regulatory agencies; theories of self-protective behavior and accident prevention; and analysis of safety program effectiveness.

IOE 463: Measurement and Design of Work

Design of lean manufacturing systems requires knowledge and skills for describing manual work, identifying value and non-value added work elements, designing efficient work equipment and methods, preventing fatigue and related worker health problems and predicting work performance.

IOE 465: Design of Experiments

Linear models, Multi-collinarity and rogust regression, comparative experiments, randomized blocks and latin squares, factorial designs, confounding, mixed level fractional factories, random and mixed models, nesting and split plots, response surface methods, Taguchi contributions to experimental design.

IOE 533: Human Motor Behavior and Engineering Systems

The course is designed to provide a basic perspective of the major processes of human motor behavior. Emphasis will be placed on understanding motor control and man-(machine)-environment interaction. Information processing will be presented and linked to motor behavior. Application of theories to the design of the work-place, controls and tools will be underlined and illustrated by substantial examples.

IOE 593: Ergonomics Project

Team design project applying ergonomic principles to enhance safety, productivity, and/or quality aspects of a human-machine system. Student(s) register for section number of instructor/advisor. Maximum six credits of IOE 590/593. Projects are overseen/graded by faculty and may also involve mentoring by representatives from external organizations.

Winter Semester

IOE 333: Ergonomics

Introduction to human sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and physiological systems in the context of human-machine-environment systems. Discussion of methods for human-centered evaluation and design of cognitive and physical tasks, products and devices, vehicles and workplaces, such as displays, controls, human-computer and human-robot interactions, illumination and sound environments, repetitive and high physical effort tasks.

IOE 430: Global Cultural Systems Engineering

Selected topics of systems engineering are examined from the global cultural perspective. Topics include global cultural issues of design, marketing, and communication; engineering aesthetics and ethics; individual and aggregated behavioral decision making; social networking and online communities; research and evaluation methods, applications in many areas of systems engineering.

IOE 434: Human Error and System Failure

Introduction to a new systems-oriented approach to safety management and the analysis of complex system failures. The course covers a wide range of factors contributing to system failures: human perceptual and cognitive abilities and limitations, the design of modern technologies and interfaces, and biases in accident investigation and error analysis. Recent concepts in the area of high reliability organizations and resilience engineering are reviewed. Students perform systems analyses of actual mishaps and disasters in various domains, including various modes of transportation, process control, and health care.

IOE 436: Human Factors in Computer Systems

This course discusses how to design and evaluate computer systems for ease of use. Topics to be covered include keyboards and how people type, vision and video display design, human body size and computer furniture, regulations concerning working conditions, software issues, methods for studying user performance, documentation, and information systems of the future.

IOE 437: Automotive Human Factors

This course provides an overview of human factors and driving to help engineers design motor vehicles that are safe and easy to use, and to provide basic knowledge for those interested in conducting automotive human factors/ergonomics research. The focus is on the total vehicle (all aspects of vehicle design) and for an inter-national market. Key topics include design guidelines, crash investigation and statistics, driving performance measures, vehicle dynamics, occupant packaging, and driver vision.

IOE 463: Measurement and Design of Work

IOE 539: Safety Engineering Methods

Recognition, evaluation, and control of generic safety hazards (confined spaces, electricity, fire, mechanical energy, etc.) found in contemporary workplaces, using case studies from manufacturing, transportation and power generation. Students perform an interdisciplinary team project using contemporary systems safety methods (e.g., fault tree analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, or job safety analysis) to redesign a work station or consumer product.

IOE 593: Ergonomics Project

IOE 837: Seminar in Occupational Health and Safety Engineering

Interprofessional Perspectives in Occupational Health and Safety --- Seminar to provide an opportunity for graduate students interested in occupational health and safety-engineering problems to become acquainted with various related contemporary research and professional activities, as presented by both staff and guest speakers.

HFES-Related Research Groups at UM

University of Michigan Center for Ergonomics

The Center for Ergonomics operates within the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering in the College of Engineering. We have a long-standing history and distinguished record of research in the areas of Cognitive Ergonomics, Biomechanics and Work Physiology and Safety. We also provide instruction, both to graduate students in various departments across campus as well as professional ergonomists, engineers, and designers in private industry through our continuing education courses. Students, research scientists, and research sponsors are drawn to the Center because of its faculty who are experts in a broad range of topics in Cognitive and Physical Ergonomics and because of the Center's extensive resources, state-of-the-art laboratories, test equipment, expert staff, and computer systems.

Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (COHSE)

The University of Michigan Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (COHSE) is a NIOSH Education and Research Center (ERC). Since inception in 1982, COHSE has supported comprehensive graduate-level educational programs to aspiring practitioners and researchers in Industrial Hygiene (IH), Occupational & Environmental Epidemiology (OEE), Occupational Health Nursing (OHN), and Occupational Safety Engineering and Ergonomics (OSE) to help meet the nation’s needs for qualified practitioners and researchers. Our academic programs are complemented with our highly effective Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) program, and Continuing Education (CE) courses.

Program to consider: Occupational Safety Engineering and Ergonomics Program

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute is dedicated to achieving safe and sustainable transportation for a global society. With a multimillion-dollar research program, broad faculty expertise, and multiple collaborators, UMTRI is committed to interdisciplinary research that will ultimately increase driving safety and further transportation systems knowledge. Their focus include driver's behavior, injury, biomechanics, data fusion, and connected vehicles.

The Stirling Research Group

The Stirling Research Group characterizes human physical and cognitive interactions in the presence of technology for goal-oriented manual task performance to design technology and operational decision-making aids. We blend human factors, biomechanics, and robotics. We use empirical studies to holistically study human-system interactions and leverage signal processing and controls intuition to design new solutions. The knowledge we create and systems we design will lead to interactive robotic and sensing technologies that people want to use to make their job easier. Our research has three thrusts: (1) Wearable motion sensing to support decision making, (2) Exoskeleton use and usability, and (3) Human-system interactions for space operations.

The Motor Augmentation and Neuroergonomics of humAn Systems (MANAS) Lab

The Motor Augmentation and Neuroergonomics of humAn Systems (MANAS) Lab aims to understand how the human body responds and adapts to complex cognitive and physical demands especially in critical contexts or under the conditions of task failure. The following are the ongoing projects in this lab.

Kinetic, Kinematic and usability evaluations of back support exoskeletons for emergency response work.
Understanding the mechanisms of neuromuscular fatigue under acute cognitive stress
Mathematical modeling of neural hemodynamic data for capturing dynamic neural energy consumption

Cognitive Systems Engineering Lab

The cognitive systems engineering lab is used in conducting controlled human lab experiments on a range of cognitive systems engineering research issues, including cognitive performance, mental workload, cognitive architecture, multitask performance, engineering aesthetics, cultural factors in design, and developing computational cognitive models. More than a dozen Ph.D. dissertations have been completed with their experimental components conducted at the lab. The lab facility changes depending on the needs of the experimental research being conducted at the time. Examples of the lab equipment include desk top computers, a driving simulator, and experimental devices designed for engineering aesthetic research.

Interaction & Collaboration Research Lab (ICRL) at UM

The Interaction & Collaboration Research Lab (ICRL) aims to understand how humans interact and collaborate with each other, with autonomous agents and with robots, and to propose design solutions facilitating such interactions and collaborations.