UB Industrial Engineering Students Receive Awards

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Three students studying in the Department of Industrial Engineering in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have received national awards.

Jiao Ma of Beijing, China, has received the Amelia Earhart Fellowship from Zonta International, the global service organization founded to advance the status of women worldwide. The annual scholarship awards, established in 1938 in honor of Earhart, famed pilot and member of Zonta International, recognize accomplished women scholars in aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering.

A doctoral candidate, Ma is majoring in human factors engineering -- the design of technical systems that match human characteristics to enhance human performance and human well-being. During the past three years, she has been working on multiple research projects funded by the Federal Aviation Administration in such areas as error investigation, human-factors training and language-related errors and their interventions in aviation maintenance and inspection.

Elizabeth Henry of Watkins Glen received the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Scholarship. The REU program is intended to provide talented undergraduate students with hands-on research experience during the summer in the area of manufacturing metrology and quality engineering. The nine-week program, designed to improve the nation's competitiveness in manufacturing and product maintenance through the development of a quality infrastructure, will take place this year at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Kathleen Shyhalla, formerly of West Seneca, received the Dissertation Award from the International Society of Biomechanics. A doctoral candidate with a concentration in human factors engineering, Shyhalla has been studying how musculoskeletal stress develops during light repetitive work. She will report on the results of her research at the International Society of Biomechanics' 20th Congress, to be held in August 2005 in Cleveland.