UC Faculty Receive Awards at International Ergonomics Conference

Susan Kotowski, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Allied Health Sciences, and Kermit Davis, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health at the UC College of Medicine, recently received awards at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) 2016 International Annual Meeting. 

Kotowski received the William C. Howell Young Investigator Award for demonstrating outstanding contributions to HFES. Kotowski has been principal or co-author of 37 peer-reviewed articles and principal or co-investigator on 11 research grants on contracts generating approximately $2.4 million in external funding.

Davis and Kotowski jointly received the Best Ergonomics in Design Article Award for "Stand Up and Move: Your Musculoskeletal Health Depends on It." The article is a literature review covering the value of various alternatives to conventional office seating for preventing musculoskeletal disorders. It provides succinct summaries of the research that has been done with the various alternatives along with concrete "take-home messages."

The HFES mission is to promote the discovery and exchange of knowledge concerning the characteristics of human beings that are applicable to the design of systems and devices of all kinds. The Society, which was founded in 1957, has 23 technical groups, several local and student chapters and is a member of the International Ergonomics Association.