HF/E in the Post-9/11, Post-Katrina World: A Personal View

Rogers initiated a Patient Safety Science Forum, the first of a series
that HFES will cosponsor with the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological,
and Cognitive Sciences. Science Forums, which are held in Washington, D.C., allow scientific officers from federal agencies, university researchers, and representatives from science advocacy groups to examine and discuss the possible resolution of research-related issues and management problems. Appropriately, the next Science Forum, to be held in November and also organized by Wendy, deals with the topic of human factors and homeland security.

Reinforcing these efforts, Bill Howell has agreed to serve as chair of the Advocacy/ Government Relations Committee and will help us coordinate our advocacy efforts in a more systematic fashion. At the grass-roots level, National Ergonomics Month (NEM) participants continue to focus on promoting HF/E to corporate executives, students, and the general public one step at a time. This truly “bottom-up” effort has been led by Ron Shapiro and will be taken over by Haydee Cuevas.

Also at the grass-roots level, a media outreach effort has begun
with our involvement in a program called Discoveries and Breakthroughs
Inside Science. This effort is designed to provide television programming to local news stations about science, and our involvement will ensure that human factors/ergonomics activities are included. So we on the Executive Council level will try to provide leadership.

However, each one of us, as a member of HFES, must reflect on our own individual contributions. Getting our potential users and customers to understand and respect the depth and breadth of our contributions is something that each of us must do.