Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) researchers have an opportunity to be among those who benefit from billions of dollars in additional funding that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has allocated to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. In an article pulished in the April HFES Bulletin, HFES Government Relations Committee Chair William S. Howell notes:

"Among those [programs receiving Recovery Act research funding] that seem most relevant for the HF/E community are $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research allocated to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); $500 million for health profession training programs – much of it, however, administered through the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) for recruiting and field activities rather than research; $12.2 billion for special education programs through the Department of Education (DOE), some of which I suppose might support research; and an as-yet-undetermined amount to be allocated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for information technology in clinical education, which will include an electronic records initiative that has clear implications for HF/E."