Byrne named fellow of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Mike Byrne, a Rice University professor of psychology, has been named a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Mike Byrne. Photo by Jeff Fitlow.

Election to fellow status is an honor conferred by distinguished colleagues to recognize outstanding achievement, consistently superior professional performance, exceptional contributions, personal service to the society, and other meritorious accomplishments by society members.

“I’m humbled to be named a fellow, it’s quite an honor,” Byrne said. “Really, the bulk of the credit should go to my amazing graduate students, collaborators and colleagues, because without them, I couldn’t possibly have gotten to this point.”

Byrne’s research focuses on the psychological processes underlying how people interact with man-made systems, particularly computer systems. The ultimate goal of his research is understanding and developing models of human performance that help design better real-world systems — everything from voting booths to airplane cockpits to webpages.

HFES, founded in 1957, is the world’s largest scientific association for professionals specializing in human factors and ergonomics. The organization promotes and advances knowledge about the characteristics of human beings that are applicable to the design of systems, products, tools, and environments of all kinds. To learn more about the organization, visit https://www.hfes.org/home.