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Workshop / Seminar

Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Graduate Seminar Series

ADBF 1002/Floyd 256 (Tri-Cities)

About the event

The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering is hosting a seminar presented by Andrew Merryweather, director of the Ergonomics and Safety Program and Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah.

Andrew S. Merryweather is director of the Ergonomics and Safety Program at the University of Utah and Associate Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering and adjunct associate professor in the departments of Family and Preventative Medicine and Physical Therapy and Athletic Training. He teaches and directs research in the areas of biomechanics, human factors, musculoskeletal injury prevention and human modeling. Dr. Merryweather obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah in 2008 as a NIOSH Trainee in Occupational Injury Prevention. Over the past 10 years Dr. Merryweather has managed significant research projects investigating musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace, assistive technologies for persons with disabilities, adaptive technology development, robotics and human-system engineering. A significant amount of his research is related to wearable technology to determine occupational exposures and safe human robot interactions. To contribute to the body of knowledge in this field, Dr. Merryweather is engaged in team science and has worked with researchers from multiple disciplines including health sciences, school of medicine, college of nursing, computer science, mechanical engineering, industrial and systems engineering, and agricultural systems technology and education. He has received numerous honors & awards and was recognized as an outstanding teacher by the College of Engineering on several occasions. Most recently he was awarded along with his colleagues the 2017 IEA/Liberty Mutual Medal for original research titled “Relationships between job organizational factors, biomechanical and psychosocial exposures”.

Advancing Human Safety and Ergonomics through Sensing and Simulation

In the current era when the way we work and interact with our world is evolving with rapidly expanding technologies, ergonomics and human factors must be creative in order to meet these new challenges. Ergonomics and Safety are scientific disciplines used to engineer better solutions to complex relationship between people and their environments. Goals include the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders, worker errors, and physical strain and exhaustion through the study of engineering, biomechanics, human factors, anthropometry, industrial design, and user-interface design. We can use wearable sensors, robotics and computational models to enable greater knowledge of exposure, injury and prevention. This presentation will highlight examples of how research from the Ergonomics and Safety Lab at the University of Utah is using a variety of techniques and methods to expand our understanding of how to safely and efficiently interact with our ever changing world.

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