Ergonomics Mentoring

Student & Early Career Professionals

FPE facilitates mentoring of students and early career professionals in the practice of Ergonomics, Human Factors, and User Experience.  Mentoring could involve instruction and guidance in core areas of the profession, advice on professional certification and career development, or internships and on-the-job learning experiences.  This is often especially helpful for those who are entering these fields from a related background, such as physical therapy, kinesiology, experimental psychology, or safety.

Through our extensive network of international experts in these fields, FPE matches an established professional with a student or early career professional to meet their specific needs.  Mentoring is typically accomplished remotely, even internationally, through various electronic media and technology.  Some examples of mentoring activities include:

  • Collaboration with an established professional on shared research or consulting projects.
  • Serving as an ad hoc member of thesis committees.
  • Identifying opportunities for work-study, internships, or entry level employment.
  • Providing advice on applying for and preparing for BCPE certification.
  • Helping design a self-directed course of study in human factors, ergonomics, or user experience.

Anyone interested in becoming involved with FPE’s mentoring program is invited to contact Bob Smillie, PhD, CPE at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Andrew S. Imada, Ph.D., CPE

"After 20 years at USC, I made a career change to full time consulting. This has been most rewarding because I get to see real change that happens when human, machine and organizational systems work harmoniously as a system."

Andrew S. Imada, Ph.D., CPE
H. Harvey Cohen, PhD,CPE
"Neither my writing over 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications, 5 books, and too many book chapters to count nor having personally investigated and likely prevented thousands of injury incidents compares to the experiences I have had with early career HFE professionals over the years.  Building relationships with the dozens of students and early career professionals has made me most proud."
H. Harvey Cohen, PhD,CPE
Valerie Berg Rice, PhD, CPE, OTR/L

"What’s not to love about a job where you get to ask questions, answer them,
and then travel to explain the answers to other professionals and para-professionals,
who will use the information to make the world a better place?"

Valerie Berg Rice, PhD, CPE, OTR/L
Sheree Gibson, PE, CPE

"GOOD ergonomics is all but invisible. BAD ergonomics is not.
That is why I have spent so much of my career teaching the fundamentals to mechanical engineers and supervisors.
It expands our sphere of influence beyond our profession."

Sheree Gibson, PE, CPE
Stephen C. Merriman, M.A

"After more than 50 years as a practitioner ergonomist, I continue to find ample opportunity to improve system designs. This has helped me focus on improving the user interface, human engineering and human systems integration (HSI) requirements that are applied to complex system development projects."

Stephen C. Merriman, M.A

Contact Us

Foundation for Professional Ergonomics
P.O. Box 453
Poway, CA 92074

contact@ergofoundation.org

Who We Are

The Foundation for Professional Ergonomics was established in 2004 as a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing professionalism in ergonomics through educational activities and awards.  Our goals support the goals of BCPE, and we work closely with the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) on various ergonomics practitioner initiatives.  FPE attained an IRS 501(c)(3) status enabling tax-deductible donations from those sharing this dedication to professionalism in ergonomics. 

Main Menu