Dean's Lecture

Changing the Nature of Work

Wednesday, April 23, 2014
4:10 pm - 5:30 pm
Arnold Lund
Remote video URL

Experience designers and researchers are working on their most ambitious challenge yet that represents a new frontier in user interfaces: creating a constellation of systems, machines, and people — including wearable gadgets, tablets, smart phones, and appliances — that can communicate with one another in an autonomous fashion. We are constantly adding new functions to gadgets and new devices to the ecosystem without much thought as to their totality or cumulative complexity. In the coming era of ubiquitous sensors and miniaturized mobile computing, designers need to think about how to weave the digital world into our lives at work so seamlessly that we don’t even notice. Already we’re seeing a groundswell of new technologies that insinuate themselves seamlessly into users’ personal lives like the voice and gesture-controlled Xbox, but this is just the beginning. At GE, we want to apply the same embedded intelligence to the world of big iron and people at work to create disruptive experiences, not just products or interfaces, by connecting people with people and people with machines and data. In this talk you will learn how GE Global Research is pursuing new opportunities in analytics visualization, the future of field engineering, wearables, robotics, semiautonomous vehicles, and agents that can be applied to the industrial Internet.

Arnold Lund, Ph.D., CUXP, is the connected experience technology leader and human-systems interaction lab manager at GE Global Research. He was previously the principal user experience lead in Microsoft’s Server and Management Studios and the principal director of user experience in Microsoft’s IT organization. Prior to that, he worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Ameritech, US West Advanced Technologies, and Sapient. His research has been recognized by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), and his work on metrics for assessing user experiences and predicting successful products continues to be influential.

Lund is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), and served on the HFES Executive Council. He has been elected to the prestigious ACM SIGCHI Academy and recently received the SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award. He has long been engaged in human computer interaction (HCI) and human factors standards, and in the area of accessibility and emerging technology. He chaired the HFES Institute and oversaw the HFES-200 standard and its approval as an ANSI standard. He is a certified user experience professional and served as president of the board of directors for the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE).

Lund has published widely in R&D management and on research in natural user interfaces, and has more than 20 patents. He has taught user-centered design at Northwestern University and the University of Washington.

Last updated: August 23, 2016