Philip Kortum, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University, is the recipient of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society’s 2024 Paul M. Fitts Education Award.
The highly prestigious and competitive award was established in 1968 to recognize contributions to the education and training of human factors specialists. Candidates should either be currently or previously engaged in college or university teaching of human factors and ergonomics material or should have written significant textbooks in the field. The honor is presented annually in recognition of these outstanding accomplishments.
Kortum spent more than 15 years of his career in industry doing hands-on human factors and applied research and development. Since joining Rice’s faculty, he has focused on the measurement of usability across a number of different kinds of systems, including voting, medical, mobile, education and transportation.
The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is the largest multidisciplinary professional organization in the world for individuals in the field of human factors, which focuses on reducing human error, increasing productivity and enhancing safety between humans and the products they use.
Members include students, psychologists, engineers, designers, scientists, usability professionals and others who have a common interest in designing systems and equipment to be safe and effective for the people who operate and maintain them. Members are employed in industries, universities and colleges, government agencies, consulting firms, military research centers, public utilities and other settings.
More information on the society is online at https://www.hfes.org.