Marras elected president of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

William Marras, Honda Chair Professor in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering, has been elected as the next president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).

Founded in 1957, HFES is a multidisciplinary professional association of more than 4,500 members globally. It promotes the discovery and exchange of knowledge of human characteristics that are applicable to the design of systems and devices. Its members include engineers, designers and scientists employed in industry, academia and government.

Elected in 2009 to the National Academy of Engineering, Marras is founder and director of the Biodynamics Laboratory and the Center for Occupational Health in Automotive Manufacturing (COHAM). He also serves as executive director of the Spine Research Institute and the Institute for Ergonomics. He holds joint appointments in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery, Physical Medicine and Neurosurgery. His research is centered on occupational biomechanics issues, including workplace biomechanical and epidemiologic studies, laboratory biomechanical studies, mathematical modeling, and clinical studies of the back and wrist.

Marras plans to sustain and enhance HFES’ value to both the academic and applied membership by supporting multi-disciplinary research, reaching out to young potential members, and increasing interaction with practitioners, among other efforts. His term will begin at the 2014 HFES Annual Meeting in Chicago, October 27-31.