Oct 6 2015
The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society congratulates Thomas Franke, Nadine Rauh, Madlen Günther, Maria Trantow, and Josef F. Krems on receiving the 2015 Human Factors Prize for their article, “Which Factors Can Protect Against Range Stress in Everyday Usage of Battery Electric Vehicles? Toward Enhancing Sustainability of Electric Mobility Systems.”
The winning paper investigates the sustainability challenge of limited range in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and identifies resilience factors that can protect against occurrences of range stress in everyday BEV usage. These factors include more hands-on experience with limited range, a higher tolerance for low range situations, and trust in the range estimation system. The researchers found that even mild encounters with range stress can reduce user satisfaction and acceptance, and that automobile manufacturers should focus on developing support systems that increase drivers' capacity to cope with potential range situations to avoid stress.
In keeping with the 2015 Human Factors Prize topic of sustainability/resilience, submissions focused on human factors/ergonomics research that addresses the long-term preservation of vital global resources with the goal of reducing consumption to protect the needs of future generations.
“It is a great honor and tremendous delight that our paper has won this year's Human Factors Prize, and I want to thank everyone who made this success possible,” says Franke. “We strongly believe that user-centered design has great potential to address future sustainability challenges, and a thorough and theory-driven understanding of user interaction with low resource systems is necessary. Human factors/ergonomics research has many fruitful answers to the sustainability challenges we face.”
Submissions to the competition were judged on the importance of the implications for sustainability/resilience, originality of the research, contribution to the HF/E knowledge base, and soundness of the methodology.
The authors will receive a $10,000 cash prize and publication of their paper in the Society’s flagship journal, Human Factors. Franke will present his work at a special session on Tuesday, October 27, at the upcoming HFES International Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
HFES also congratulations the authors of two papers selected as finalists for this year’s prize: “People-Technology-Ecosystem Integration: A Framework to Ensure Regional Interoperability for Safety, Sustainability, and Resilience of Interdependent Energy, Water, and Seafood Sources in the (Persian) Gulf,” by Najmedin Meshkati, Maryam Tabibzadeh, Ali Farshid, Mansour Rahimi and Ghena Alhanaee, and “Cultural Influences in Women-Friendly Labor-Saving Hand-Tools’ Designs: The Milk Churner Case,” by William S. Kisaalita, Abiah Katimbo, Edison J. Sempiira, and Dana J. Mugisa.
Source: http://www.hfes.org/