About Us

 Alan has extensive experience as the team leader for a wide range of ergonomics projects. He has been a professional human factors ergonomist for over 45 years and leads the ergonomics services offered by Humanuse. 

Since 2019 he has been Professor Emeritus, Human Centered Design department, Cornell University. From 1987-2019 he was Professor in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University where he directed the Human Factors and Ergonomics teaching and research programs. Prior to joining Cornell,  he ran the Graduate Program in Applied Psychology and Ergonomics at Aston University, Birmingham, U.K. From 1990-1993 he was also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Occupational Health, University of Birmingham, U.K. and he has been a Research Professor  in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse University

His research and teaching activities focused on issues of design and workplace ergonomics as these affect the health, comfort and productivity of workers. His research themes included workstation design and carpal tunnel syndrome risk factors for workers, alternative keyboard and input system designs, the performance and health effects of postural strain, and the health and comfort impacts of various environmental stressors, such as the effects of indoor air quality effects on sick building syndrome complaints among office workers, and the effects of office lighting on eyestrain problems among computer workers.  

He has authored and edited Ergonomic Workplace Design for Health, Wellness, and Productivity, co-authored a book on Healthy Buildings, and co-edited Advances in Ergonomics Modeling and Usability Evaluation and the Handbook of  Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods, published 40 book chapters and over 250 articles on these topics in the ergonomics and related journals and proceedings.

He received the 2003 Alexander J. Williams Jr. Design Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society for "outstanding human factors contributions to the design of a major operational system".  He received the 2009 Oliver Keith Hansen Outreach Award. This award recognizes significant activities that broaden awareness of the existence of the human factors/ergonomics profession and the benefits it brings to humankind.

His professional activities are extensive. He is a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (U.S.A.), of the International Ergonomics Association, of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (U.K.), a Certified Professional Ergonomist and a Chartered Ergonomist (C.ErgHF). He is a founding member of the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). He is also has been an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and past member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and  the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. He is on the editorial board of the journals Ergonomics, Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Journal of Human Environment Systems, and the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research.

Since 2013 he has been the is the Program Chair for the National Ergonomics Conference. He is the Environmental Design Representative for the International Ergonomics Association and has chaired the Work Environment technical group of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) and the Work Environment Design Technical Subcommittee of the US Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES )Technical Advisory Group to the International Standards Organization, the Work Environment subcommittee of the BSR/HFES 100 Computer Workstation Standard Revision Committee, and the Work Environment subcommittee of the International Ergonomics Association.  He is a past president of the Division of Environmental Psychology of the International Association of Applied Psychology, and of the Organizational Design and Management Technical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.  He has also served in many other professional roles.