Denny Yu was the winner of the 2014 Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award. Mr. Yu, a PhD student in industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan, is the fifth recipient of the award. The award was presented to Yu by Dieter’s wife, Karel, at the 2014 HFES Annual Meeting in Chicago. The award included a engraved, acrylic award plus a $500 check and complimentary registration for the Annual Meeting.
Mr. Yu’s project is titled “Understanding the Effects of Alternative Displays on the Work Demands in Microsurgery.” Musculoskeletal symptoms are major concerns in microsurgery, where surgeons are required to operate with surgical microscopes that fixate their postures over optical eyepieces, constrain their eye locations, reduce comfort, and force them to stand in awkward positions. Yu’s research applies ergonomics practice areas of analysis, design, and evaluation to quantify surgeons’ exposure to postural risk factors in the operating room, design new visualization equipment that reduces postural constraints, and evaluate the displays’ effectiveness using biomechanics and qualitative metrics. [Click here for full paper.]
Mr. Yu stated, “It was an immense honor to receive the Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award. This award has been highly inspirational and will continue to drive my passion for translating ergonomics research into health-care practice throughout my career.”