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Press Release - December 13, 2005
Designing Better Ways to Work and Live
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Sprains, strains and tears in joints and bones ‹ the wear and tear of daily work and living. U.S. private industries reported more than 500,000 cases of musculoskeletal impairment and more than 300,000 back injuries in 2003, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase in these injuries is creating demand for specialists who know how to design safe and efficient products for human use. Penn State's new Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Human Factors and Ergonomics can help meet this need by providing a convenient online education program.
Penn State's program is the only graduate certificate ergonomics program available online. Registration is now being accepted for the first courses in the five course 15-credit graduate program, which starts in early January.
"All types of workplace injuries are increasing," said Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Andris Freivalds, who directs Penn State's Center for Cumulative Trauma Disorders. "There is a growing need for ergonomics professionals to help prevent musculoskeletal injuries."
Ergonomics is the science of designing safe and efficient products that people use in the workplace and in daily life. Freivalds notes this field, also called human factors, combines medical, psychological, physiological and engineering sciences into two areas of study: physical ergonomics, which focuses on physical labor and repetitive stress injuries, and cognitive ergonomics, which deals with information processing. Penn State's program covers both areas.
Freivalds, an expert in physical ergonomics, says this field is not just for engineers. It is attracting individuals from a wide range of areas, including mechanical and industrial engineering, safety administration and the health-care profession. Nurses, for example, are enrolling in ergonomics courses to learn more about the engineering aspects of ergonomics, so they can help patients with musculoskeletal injuries.
Penn State currently offers two resident master's degree programs in engineering with an option in human factors and ergonomics engineering. Freivalds says he is receiving more requests for courses in this field from professionals who want to expand their knowledge or advance their careers, but can't leave their jobs to attend classes on a university campus. That's why he is working with Penn State's World Campus to create a program that can be delivered online, so students can learn when and where it is convenient for them.
The first two courses ‹ Human/Computer Interface Design and Mechanics of the Musculoskeletal System ‹ start in January. Students will have opportunities to network and work on group projects with professionals from around the world. In addition, students have the option of applying the credits they earn in the certificate program toward Penn State's Master of Science in Industrial Engineering degree with an Option in Human Factors and Ergonomics Engineering. The online program also can serve as a preparatory course of study for the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics exam.
Freivalds and the other Penn State faculty members who teach in the online human factors and ergonomics program also teach the on-campus courses and are involved in ergonomics research. Freivalds' research focuses on heavy work and back injuries and repetitive injuries in the workplace. He and his team of graduate students are developing techniques for analyzing jobs to better understand why injuries occur. They have developed a computerized Cumulative Trauma Disorders risk assessment tool for field-based measurement of job stressors. They also are creating models to understand the internal stresses on the body, so these stresses can be reduced.
In addition to his role as lead faculty member for the program, Freivalds directs the Center for Cumulative Trauma Disorders, established in 1994 with support from the Ben Franklin Technology Center, to help small- and medium-sized Pennsylvania companies control their workplace hazards. To date, the center has helped more than 70 companies by redesigning jobs to prevent injuries and through ergonomics short courses.
For information about the Penn State Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Human Factors and Ergonomics, visit http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/wc/HumanFactorsandErgonomicsCertificate.shtml.
Editor contact: Deborah A. Benedetti, 814-238-4895; dab12@outreach.psu.edu or Amy Neil, 814-865-7600 or aen4@outreach.psu.edu
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.
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