I want to start with a huge thank you to the PSHFES Executive Council! We’ve had members that have participated for many years now, including Gary Davis, Miriam Joffe, Carrie Lin and Ram Maikala. But then we’ve have members who have left and returned. I’m thinking of you Kelly Lynch. And finally, we have our new members who joined in the past year and I hope will be a part of our council for a long time. Please welcome our new members, Katia Costa-Black, Tony Brace, Frank Ryou, and Michelle Longo! It’s been quite the year, trying different things like reducing our membership fees and introducing our new LinkedIn page. I appreciate you all.
I also want to extend a huge congratulations to Ram Maikala as the 2022 recipient of the Puget Sound Chapter’s HFE Professional of the Year. Ram has been a cornerstone for the field of HFE and our council. This is much deserved recognition for all that he does for our profession.
As most of you know, on September 15 we held our annual symposium. I hope that despite the fact it was again a virtual event, the quality of the presentations and the exchange we had provided great insight and knowledge to you and your practice. Thank you to everyone who attended and continued to show support to our PSHFES activities. There are so many things that seem to be changing with regard to the work environment and its impact on how work is performed. These include climate change, interactions with technology and increasing worker engagement. Our symposium speakers addressed several of these changes. Dr. Fadi Fatallah, Professor at the University of California Davis, described agricultural ergonomics and touched on the impact of climate change on the industry. Dan Gottesman, creator of Ergovation, spoke towards the intersection of HFE and environmental sustainability. Dr. Deborah Boehm-Davis, recently retired from Meta, addressed employee empowerment/engagement when she described a 5-year research partnership in developing a comprehensive training program for a regional air carrier. And Shane Hudson, from EWI Works, demonstrated a motion tracking system to evaluate a participatory intervention. These presentations are evidence that as HFE professionals, we continue to innovate and grow in multi-faceted directions to address related challenges of our ever-changing work environment. Thank you to our symposium speakers and sponsors! Once again, you have helped PSHFES with our mission to provide opportunities for professional development. If you are at all interested in being involved in our council, or are just curious, please reach to us at info@pshfes.org
