IE GSO Travel Grant

Liang (Leon) Zeng is being awarded the IE GSO Travel Grant for the fall semester. Many Congratulations!!

Leon will be presenting his work on "The Significance of Creativity in IT Product/Service Development" at the 53rd Annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Conference, San Antonio, TX held from October 19-23 2009.

Abstract: It is creativity that ultimately triggers innovations and their commercial success in information technology products and services. Previous research in ergonomic design considers only issues regarding functionality, safety, usability, and affectivity. We first propose a conceptual framework for ergonomic design that high-lights the central role of creativity in achieving synergy of the four preceding design dimensions. Then, a conceptual model of the creative design process for IT products and services is proposed based on the literature in creative cognition and engineering design. The discussion provides insights into how to increase creativity and profitability of IT products and services.

Due to Leon's efforts, the Purdue HFES chapter has submitted an application for recognition as an outstanding chapter, which Leon will be responsible for accepting (assuming that the chapter receives that recognition). He will also supervise the presentation of posters being prepared to showcase the human factors research programs of three laboratories at Purdue in a special session.

Travel Grant Recipients

Congratulations to BC Kwon and Pat Brunese!!! They are the recipients of the first Travel Grants provided by the IE GSO.

Bum Chul (BC) Kwon
ReadingMate: An Infrared-Camera-Based Content Stabilization Technique to Help Joggers Read While Running on a Treadmill
Computer Human Interaction 2009 on April 4 – 9, 2009 in Boston, MA

Abstract of Presentation: Though reading could be a useful activity while a jogger runs on a treadmill, reading while running can be quite tiresome. In order to alleviate this difficulty, we developed a content stabilization technique, called “ReadingMate,” using head-tracking to track the location of the jogger’s head/eyes and relocate the position of the contents on the screen, so that the contents appear to be stabilized. We conducted a small experiment with ten participants, and eight out of ten reported positive experiences in using ReadingMate. Thus, ReadingMate could be a potential solution for joggers who would like to read while running, and possible future works are also discussed.

Pat Brunese
An Investigation of the Effect of Non-Identical Replacements on Optimal Maintenance Policies IIE Annual Conference – Industrial Engineering Research Conference on May 30 –June 3, 2009 in Miami, FL

Abstract of Presentation: We consider a system subject to failure, whereupon the system can either be repaired or replaced. A repair action will bring the state of the system to somewhere between good-as-new and bad-as-old, termed general or imperfect repair. The age of the system after repair is modeled according to the so-called virtual age, first proposed by Kijima (1989). The replacement action is assumed to reset system age to zero. In addition, the replacement systems are assumed to have different reliability functions. We formulate and present results for a semi-Markov decision process with state space comprised of the virtual age and number of failures.

Events for March 2 - 6

Travel Grant Applications are due by 5 pm today.

MGL lab tour has been postponed until March 24th due to faculty candidate seminar tomorrow.

Faculty Candidate Seminar on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 4:30 pm in Grissom 180
Guanghui (George) Lan, Georgia Institute of Technology
Robust and accelerated stochastic approximation approaches for stochastic optimization

NSF Director Arden L. Bement, Jr. speaks at Purdue, March 4 at 3:30 pm in East Faculty Lounge (PMU)
“In the Barash Tradition: Imagining the Shape of Things to Come”
Director of the National Science Foundation and former Purdue distinguished professor Arden L. Bement, Jr. will be the featured speaker for the inaugural Moshe M. Barash Distinguished Lectureship for Manufacturing Engineering, which is named for the late Purdue professor emeritus.
A reception will follow immediately in the Lafayette Room, PMU.

Faculty Candidate Seminar on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 4:30 pm in Grissom 180
Lu (Andrew) Liu, Johns Hopkins University

Shirt Design Competition for COE Graduate Programs - Must be turned in by 5 pm Friday, March 6th

Students needed for breakfast with the last faculty candidate on March 11th... please contact Ashley (ajbenedi@purdue.edu) if you are interested.

Don't forget to vote on the date of the plant trip - on the right side.

Graduate Student Government Travel Grant

Overview
The aim of the Purdue Graduate Student Government (PGSG) Travel Grant is to assist Purdue University graduate students in attending technical conferences which in turn will help to develop graduate students professionally and augment the overall qua

Because the number of applications varies each semester and the total budget for Travel Grant varies year to year, the number and amount of awards will not determined until after all applications have been received. Grants are typically about $200 and are awarded to 20-40% of applicants. A few exceptional applications may receive slightly larger award amounts if funds are available. This year, $12,200 was awarded in grants.

Deadline
For travel between 03/01/09 - 08/31/09, the Spring 2009 deadline is Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 5:00 pm. No exceptions.

Visit http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pgsg/projects/travel-grants/ for more information.

Applications available online

Anyone interested in applying for the travel grant or mentoring program can now download the documents.

The Mentoring Application is located at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ajbenedi/Mentoring.docx and is due February 16th by 5 pm. You can give your application to any IE GSO officers or drop if off in Grissom 379 to Ashley.

The Travel Grant Application is located at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ajbenedi/TravelGrant.docx and is due March 2nd by 5 pm. You can give your application to any IE GSO officers or drop if off in Grissom 379 to Ashley.