As I begin my term as HFES president, I'd like to share with you some insights that I gained as a member of the 2008 HFES/People to People delegation to China. The delegation included 15 human factors/ergonomics professionals and was led by HFES Executive Director Lynn Strother. We visited three cities in China and met with HF/E counterparts from Chinese universities, training facilities, and professional organizations. It was an amazing trip, and the experience provided part of my motivation to run for president of the Society. From my colleagues in the delegation, I gained a heightened awareness of our many outstanding assets as well as some challenges and opportunities for positive change.

HFES Membership and the Scientist-Practitioner Model

     Our central strength and most valuable asset rests in our members. The list of Technical Groups attests to the diverse subdisciplines in which we work. This diversity was highlighted by the range of counterparts we met in China, including representatives from the Astronaut Research and Training Center, Tsinghua University, the Chinese Ergonomics Society, the Usability Professionals Association-China, and academics in HF/E and in industrial/ organizational psychology programs at the Nanjing University of Technology, East China Normal University, and the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

     Although our diversity is a great strength, addressing the needs of such a diverse Society is one of our greatest challenges. As a community of people who do applied work, we must nurture both sides of the scientist-practitioner model and foster connections between the academicians and researchers who formulate and test theories and the HF/E practitioners who translate this work in applied settings. Unfortunately, it seems that we have not always done a good job of facilitating these connections or of making our publications and our meetings relevant to the practice side of the scientist-practitioner model. This notion was supported by comments from practitioners in our HFES delegation, who questioned the value of Society membership and active participation in HFES and bemoaned the dearth of practice-oriented sessions at our annual meetings.

     I believe that HFES must promote membership and active participation by all HF/E professionals, or we run the risk of becoming irrelevant to a large segment of the HF/E community. We have begun to take steps toward this, as evidenced by the more than 80 practice-oriented presentations at the recent HFES Annual Meeting in San Antonio on topics such as designing a usability evaluation environment; human factors/ergonomics practice from the perspective of forensics consulting firms; ergonomics process design and management; human factors and risk communication for reuse, recycling, disassembly, and product end-of-life; improving the user interface and adoption of online personal health records; test and evaluation initiatives; and practical applications to improve hospital health care delivery systems. As we move forward, we must make sure that both scientists and practitioners in human factors/ergonomics see our value as a Society and recognize that being a member of HFES enhances both research and practice.

Human Factors/Ergonomics Training

     To be competitive in today's market, students in HF/E programs must have the edge provided by excellent training. Our visit to the labs at Tsinghua University, one of the most respected HF/E educational institutions in China, made salient the degree to which the quality of training determines the future of the discipline. Moreover, other nations look to U.S. academic programs to provide models, so we must have a mechanism to identify and reward the premier graduate programs in human factors/ergonomics. We are in the process of reviewing, revising, and revitalizing HFES accreditation of graduate programs in HF/E, and we plan to increase the visibility and value of this accreditation for students, faculty, and employers.

HFES as a Global Organization

     In China we met with representatives of the HFES chapter at Tsinghua, and I'm pleased to announce that we will soon have a new chapter in Shanghai. In April, the HFES Executive Council approved a new dues structure to facilitate chapter formation in developing nations. So we have taken steps toward increasing internationalization of the Society.

     At this point, HFES has reached a critical juncture with respect to our position in the global community. We must decide whether we want to be a truly global organization and formulate our strategic plan based on that decision. On the one hand, HF/E work is ongoing or emerging across the world, and the knowledge and skills collectively within HFES are critically important and should be disseminated as widely as possible. As the premier professional human factors/ergonomics organization, we should be involved in this worldwide development of the field so that we can contribute to, as well as take advantage of, advances and new developments.

     On the other hand, becoming a truly global organization may require departures from our standard modes of operation. "Going global" will entail an expanded focus and outreach to international HF/E societies, universities, and organizations. For example, the foci of our Membership Committee would extend to member development both in the United States and abroad, with activities such as identifying receptive groups for direct mail or e-mail promotions, promoting membership recommendations in all employment sectors, identifying ways to approach International Ergonomics Association member organizations and their individual members to promote electronic membership in emerging economies, and working with local and student chapter presidents to develop bylaws, handbooks, and other materials tailored for emerging economies. (Thanks to HFES Director of Member Services Carlos de Falla for these suggestions!) Other measures may be essential; for example, as a global organization, we should consider holding an annual meeting outside the United States.

     How to increase our global presence will be a critical question for the future direction of HFES, and one of my goals will be to continue to increase our visibility as a society and as representatives of our discipline across the globe. Building on our assets and successes, we need to manage our direction, facilitate growth, and make human factors/ergonomics a term and a discipline that people around the world not only understand but also value. I'm excited about the year ahead and look forward to your input. Please contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions at kmosier@sfsu.edu.