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Usability Associates
38 Montpelier Circle
Rochester, NY 14618
585.442.0499
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Stan Caplan, President

Stan Caplan - President

Usability Associates is a Human Factors consulting firm specializing in requirements definition, design, testing and installation for product development.  The firm was founded in 1998 by Stanley Caplan.  Stan envisioned a personalized usability service provided to companies having no Human Factors resources as well as those who need to supplement existing resources when the need arises.

Stan has realized that vision by directly assisting companies and, where appropriate, collaborating with affiliated resources.  Affiliations include Innovation-TRIZUserWorks and Aaron Marcus and Associates.

Stan draws on his extensive experience as an employee of Eastman Kodak Company, from completing varied projects for clients, and from his involvement in professional endeavors.
 

bulletTwenty seven years in various Human Factors roles at Kodak including management of a staff group providing usability services to several business units
bulletDesigned usability for consumer, business, health and government  products and systems
bulletB.S./M.S. in Industrial Engineering plus extensive Ph.D. course work in Human Factors
bulletOver 25 publications and presentations on diverse Human Factors topics
bulletWorkshops given in U.S. and Europe on design processes and voice of the customer
bulletBoard Certified Human Factors Professional
bulletAdjunct Professor teaching graduate course in Human Factors Engineering
bulletMember of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), and officer of its Product Design Technical Group (PDTG) including coordinator of the annual PDTG User-Centered Design Award
bulletUsability Professionals Association (UPA), Rochester Professional Consultants Network (RPCN) and Qualitative Research Consultants Association
bulletHeld offices in Western New York Chapter of HFES, chaired Fifth Symposium on Human Factors and Industrial Design in Consumer Products, regularly review papers and serve as session chair for HFES Annual Meetings
bulletBoard member of the Western New York Chapter of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA)

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Selected Publications

Guarrera TK, Fairbanks RJ, Karn KS, Caplan SH, Shah MN, Wears RL, Usability Evaluation of an Emergency Department Information System Reveals Hazards (Abstract). Academic Emergency Medicine, in press.

Fairbanks RJ, Caplan SH, Bishop PA, Marks AM, Shah MN. Usability Study of Two Common Defibrillators Reveals Hazards. Annals of Emergency Medicine Oct 2007; 50(4): 424-432.

Caplan, Stanley, "Understand the User," Appliance Design, September 2007, Page 46.

Karn, K. & Caplan, S., Harry L. Davis, Human Factors & Ergonomics Pioneer. In: 2nd Edition of the International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human Factors. W. Karwowski, (ed.). CRC Press, March 2006

Fairbanks RJ, Caplan S, Shah MN, Marks A, Bishop P. "A Usability Study of Two Common EMS Defibrillators" (Abstract). Prehospital Emergency Care, Jan/Feb 2006 (accepted).

Fairbanks RJ, Caplan S, Panzer RJ. "Integrating Usability Into Development Of A Clinical Decision Support System", Proceedings of HCI-International 2005, July 2005

Caplan, Stanley, "Testing the Ergonomics," Machine Design, December 9, 2004, Page 108

Fairbanks RJ and Caplan S, "Poor Interface Design and Lack of Usability Testing Facilitate Medical Error," Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, Vol. 30, No. 10, October, 2004.

Fairbanks RJ, Caplan S, Shah MN, Marks A, Bishop P, "Defibrillator Usability Study Among Paramedics," Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 48th Annual Meeting Santa Monica CA:  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2004.

Caplan, Stanley, "Ergonomic Guidelines for Designing Machines," Machine Design, May 6, 2004, Page 53

Caplan, Stanley H., "A Case of Human Factors Voyeurism," Ergonomics in Design, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1999

Caplan, Stanley H., "Making Usability a Kodak Product Differentiator," in Usability in Practice: How Companies Develop User-Friendly Products, edited by Michael Wiklund, Academic Press, Boston, MA, 1994.

Caplan, Stanley H., Suzanne Rodgers and Harry Rosenfeld, "A Novel Approach to Clarifying Organizational Roles," Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, - 35th Annual Meeting, September, 1991.

Caplan, Stanley H., "Using Focus Group Methodology for Ergonomic Design," Ergonomics, Vol. 33, No. 5, May, 1990.

Eastman Kodak Company, Health, Safety and Human Factors Lab, Human Factors Section, Ergonomic Design for People at Work, Vol. 1, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY, 1983.  Contributing author to chapters on equipment design and information transfer.

Caplan, Stanley H., "Designing Cameras for Improved Holdability," Proceedings of the Human Factors Society - 26th Annual Meeting, October, 1982.

Caplan, Stanley H. and Terrence W. Faulkner, "Camera Configuration and User Preference," Proceedings of the Third National Symposium on Human Factors and Industrial Design in Consumer Products, August, 1982.

Caplan, Stanley H., "Applying Human Factors in Design," Machine Design, Vol. 53, No. 8, April 9, 1981.

Faulkner, Terrence W. and Stanley H. Caplan, "Experimental Evaluation of Kodak Ektaprint Copier-Duplicator Instructions," Proceedings of the Human Factors Society - 21st Annual Meeting, October 1977.

Caplan, Stanley H., "Guidelines for Reducing Human Errors in the Use of Coded Information," Proceedings of the Human Factors Society - 19th  Annual Meeting, October, 1975.  Reprinted in Standards Engineering, Vol. 28, No. 2, April, 1976.

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Workshops

Caplan, Stanley H. and Jennifer Perotti, Voice of the Customer Methods for Developing Product Concepts and Designs, Workshop conducted at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 42nd Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, October, 1998.  

Caplan, Stanley H., Designing and Conducting Focus Groups, Workshop conducted at the International Conference on Marketing Ergonomics, Noordwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, June, 1989.

Caplan, Stanley H. and Harry Rosenfeld, Application of Value Analysis to Human Factors Product Design. Workshop conducted at the Fifth National Symposium on Human Factors and Industrial Design in Consumer Products, May, 1987.

Caplan, Stanley H. and Terrence W. Faulkner, Human Factors in the Design Process, Workshop conducted at the Fourth National Symposium on Human Factors and Industrial Design in Consumer Products, May, 1985.

Presentations

Caplan, Stanley H., Building Usability Into Your Designs at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, November 17, 2007

Caplan, Stanley H., A Method for Evaluating Alternative Product Concepts: A Case Study at WNY Chapter HFES, Rochester, NY, October 16, 2007

Caplan, Stanley H., Marketing Makable Products vs. Making Marketable Products, presentation at Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY, May 15, 2003

Caplan, Stanley H., The Human Side of Systems Engineering – Human Factors and Designing for Usability, presentation at Finger Lakes Chapter of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Rochester, NY, March 22, 2001

Caplan, Stanley H., Putting People into Your Process Design, presentation at Federal Imaging ‘96, Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 1996

Caplan, Stanley H., Introducing Human Factors Into Government Re-engineering, presentation at Washington Technology Briefing Seminar, Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 1995

Caplan, Stanley H., The Anatomy of Human Error, Presentation to Niagara Peninsula Chapter, American Institute of Industrial Engineers, May, 1974.

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