IE 3621 - Ergonomics

• Understand how people fit into technological systems
• Recognize the capabilities and limitations of human perceptual-motor capabilities
• Recognize the capabilities and limitations of human cognitive functioning and why people make errors
• Explain the negative effects that poor work system design and poor product design have on humans
• Recognize the human indicators of fatigue and stress
• Appreciate the importance of organization and job design factors for performance and satisfaction
• Define the ethical application of human factors in designing products and processes
• Recognize ergonomic deficiencies in different environments (i.e., office, manufacturing, and classrooms)
• Evaluate and generate ergonomic solutions to the aforementioned ergonomic deficiencies
• Present project information during class presentations as well as in a formal technical report
• Write reports that describe human performance

• None 

• Introduction to and history of human factors and ergonomics, effectiveness and cost effectiveness of ergonomics, human factors investigations
• Human information processing and usability; vision and visual display design; auditory and olfactory display design; touch and tactile displays and controls
• Basic anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics; physical workload, heat stress, and cold stress
• Anthropometry and design, work posture and design
• Manual materials handling and design; repetitive motion injuries and hand tool design; vibration; automation
• Ergonomics of computer workstations, design of manufacturing environments and maintenance programs
• Training and cognitive task analysis; task, organization, and job analysis; shift work
• Accidents, human error, and safety
• Macro-ergonomics: job and organization design; engineering ethics

• The course includes a two-hour lab each week where the students will be engaged in demonstrating their understanding of the lecture topics.
• Lab time will also be used to work on the course project