Cavuoto recognized for achievements in mentorship and safety leadership

By Elizabeth Egan

“ISE is proud to congratulate Lora Cavuoto on these well-deserved awards from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the National Safety Council,” said Robert Dell, professor and chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “These recognitions speak volumes about Lora as an internationally recognized leader, mentor and scholar."

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society presents the WOMAN Mentor of the Year Award to recognize outstanding contributions made by a man or woman in the mentorship and professional advancement of women within the human factors and ergonomics community.

Having experienced the powerful impact of a positive mentor from her time as an undergraduate engineering student, Cavuoto said that she set out to emulate the same practice of mentorship and prioritize taking time to relate and listen to her students. Cavuoto noted that while she does not specifically seek out female students as mentees, she frequently works with female students as they often have similar questions and challenges to those that she experienced as a student.

At the University at Buffalo, Cavuoto is a member of the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) steering committee, an advisory board that provides guidance to the WiSE program coordinator and student leaders while also regularly leading and attending WiSE events to support students in the program.

The National Safety Council’s Rising Stars of Safety Award honors Cavuoto as an up-and-coming safety professional with a proven track record of safety leadership in an organization.  

As a graduate student at the University of Miami, Cavuoto worked with a faculty member who worked with patients in a pain and rehabilitation center, seeking treatment after work-related injuries.

“This opened my eyes to the persistent physical challenges faced by injured workers and how these challenges could affect all aspects of their lives. This motivated me to further specialize in ergonomics, since it allows for proactive solutions that can prevent long-term injuries and protect the quality of life of workers, said Cavuoto, who directs the Ergonomics and Biomechanics Lab and the SurgE Surgery Economics and Human Factors Lab at UB.

Cavuoto also noted that one emphasis of the award is the impact of the recipient’s work to the broader community, beyond traditional academic metrics. Cavuoto has served on the Ergonomics in Surgery Committee for the American College of Surgeons (ACS), helping to develop ergonomics recommendations that reduce injuries.

In 2023, she helped organize a surgical ergonomics training clinic at the ACS annual meeting, providing hundreds of surgeons with one-on-one training on ergonomics best practices, with the goal of allowing surgeons of all levels of seniority to prioritize their health and safety.

“Both awards recognize the focus that I have tried to maintain in all of my work–the people and relationships,” said Cavuoto. “Whether it is the students that I am mentoring or the workers that I am working to provide support for.”

Cavuoto is the recipient of the 2022 William E. Tarrants Outstanding Safety Educator Award from the American Society of Safety Professionals and the 2020 President Emeritus and Mrs. Meyerson Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring award from UB.

Cavuoto earned her PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biomedical engineering and occupational ergonomics and safety, respectively, from the University of Miami.