04.21.2011
Rebecca Pezdek /
Design Research /
Ergonomics /
Human Factors /
Interaction Design /
Usability /
Web & Software
Dr. Ryan L. Urquhart has established himself as a researcher, engineer, educator and speaker. We are excited to announce that he has joined HumanCentric as a Senior Human Factors Specialist. Prior to joining HumanCentric, he was employed by International Business Machines (IBM), located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. While at IBM, his focus was providing human factors support for IBM’s WebSphere and Tivoli software brands. He currently has 4 patents pending as well as numerous publications and technical reports.
His expertise is in the area of human audition, noise and performance, speech intelligibility, and human-system interaction. His formal background is in Industrial and Systems Engineering with an emphasis in Human Factors Engineering. Over the span of 10 years, he has applied human factors principles to a variety of domains and clients, both in government and industry. Prior to joining HumanCentric, the list of clients he has worked with includes: Thomson Reuters, JP Morgan Chase, Sony Ericsson, Thomson Consumer Electronics, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Army Research Laboratory, to name a few.
Dr. Urquhart obtained his Doctoral degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a concentration in Human Factors Engineering. He received his Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He’s a member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), where he serves as chairperson of the System Design Technical Group.
Learn more about Ryan on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/in/drryan
04.06.2011
Rebecca Pezdek /
Clients in the News /
Design Research /
Ergonomics /
Human Factors /
Industrial Design /
New Technology /
News /
Usability
Kroger’s new Advantage Checkout ScanTunnel was recognized as a top innovation at the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show this January 2011. Throughout 2010 Kroger has been working with HumanCentric’s Usability Specialists, Industrial Designers and Graphic Designers in order to design all aspects of the ScanTunnel that are user-related. HumanCentric provided ergonomic recommendations for component layouts, customer and associate work flow analysis, product form factor options, and graphic signage in addition to observing shoppers and sales associates during the checkout process both with and without the ScanTunnel technology.
The final ScanTunnel design has resulted in a revolutionary new approach to Point of Sale and retail checkout that involves high speed imaging of bar codes or other identifiers to reduce labor costs and high speed conveyors send groceries through the checkout process in half the time.
07.15.2009
Rebecca Pezdek /
Human Factors
Recently, I had a turning point in my realizations that important facts are accidentally getting tossed out with the daily brain spam. I recently gave a gentleman directions to a Sandwich shop 20 minutes away only to spot one just a few yards away on my drive home. This was the same Sandwich shop where I had met friends and family countless times over the past decade and it had magically evaporated from my recollection.
So what do I do now? I know for one thing that it’s absolutely crucial to personally forbid myself from giving anyone directions even if it’s to my own house. But what or who will be my overloaded brain’s next victim? I remember hearing on the radio about how people in the horse and buggy days usually only knew 50-70 people at best. I take comfort in knowing that this could be a viable excuse that I plug after telling people about the “Panera incident.” And just when I’ve started contemplating the impossible (canceling cable TV and the internet in order to free my mind of information spam), I find reassurance from some quick web-browsing. Apparently, Harvard Medical School has brought to light the American Journal of Public Health’s claims that “A rich social life may also be more emotionally and intellectually stimulating, exercising the brain and fostering better neuronal connections and even nerve cell growth” (“Social networks and memory”, Harvard Medical School). This is very a good thing. I keep searching as I’m sure I can feel my tattered memory repairing itself with each passing second. The most inspirational information I come across is an abstract for a book called “The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory”. The abstract states that “working memory capacity-long thought to be static and hardwired in the brain-can be improved by training, and that the increasing demands on working memory may actually have a constructive effect: as demands on the human brain increase, so does its capacity.” This is outstanding!
Now I can say that I’m feeling quite hopeful that although my brain might be lacking in long term memory recollection it is by no means “full.” I can continue my daily smorgasbord of brain spamming and feel reassured that I won’t permanently forget about my first car or last weeks trip to the museum. As for temporarily forgetting about who I was with, what was said, where it happened… that’s what friends are for. I’ll just have to start conversations with a pleasant disclaimer like “I don’t know if this was you, but do you remember when we…”.
06.26.2009
Rebecca Pezdek /
Consumer Products /
Design Inspiration /
Industrial Design
It’s been quite some time now that I’ve been following the development of outdoor solar lights. I have always been drawn to them because of the amazing fact that they are not only off the grid but also extremely low maintenance. I’ve been waiting eagerly for a company to take advantage of this technology and integrate it into a beautiful packaging. Then along comes the Soji Modern lanterns which have made a clear statement that solar doesn’t mean techy and it doesn’t mean cheap. Solar lighting can be just as soft and delicate as tealights and even more daring because there are no open flame restrictions to deal with. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of possibilities for solar products that are beautiful and inspiring. Let us know if you find more!
