Human-Centered Design in the College of Engineering

How best do humans interact with machines? That’s the concern of human centered design and human factors.

The person to ask at Florida Tech is University Professor Guy Boy, director of the Center for Interaction Design in the College of Engineering. Much of Boy’s work there is on a project funded by more than $1 million over four years from AREVA, an international energy company that offers solutions for nuclear power generation. Now there’s an area where the absence of human error is most welcome.

Under the grant, Boy and his graduate students are exploring the ergonomics and human factors in the design and development of nuclear power plant control and management. They are proposing human factors approaches and techniques for the safer, and more reliable and accountable control of modern nuclear power plants.

Boy came to the university in 2009 to develop a doctoral program focused on human-centered design in life-critical systems. He is author of four major books, is a permanent member of the Air and Space Academy and in 2010 was appointed chief scientist for Human-Centered Design at NASA-Kennedy Space Center