People

Eileen Thai

Student Researcher
Human Factors & Ergonomics

Degree Program: Master of Public Health

Expected Graduation: 2025

Area(s) of Interest: Eileen is an MPH candidate in the Environmental Health Sciences department with a concentration in Human Factors & Ergonomics. Her areas of interest include occupational safety and health, prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and development/design of wearable technologies for healthcare.

Project(s): TBD

Desired Employment: Industry

Maryanne Arceo

Communications Coordinator

Melissa Afterman, MS-HFE, CPE

Head of Professional Development, Instructor, Researcher
UCSF

Melissa is a board Certified Professional Ergonomist and the Head of Professional Development for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Program. In this role, she applies her 20 years of ergonomics consulting experience to guide students on a pathway to working in industry. Working with the University of California's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), she is also the director of the Online Ergonomics Certificate Program. Melissa studied BioResource/ Agricultural Engineering at Cal Poly SLO and earned her Master's degree in Human Factors/Ergonomics Engineering from...

Aman Mehrotra

Student Researcher
Human Factors & Ergonomics

Degree Program: Masters of Information Management Systems

Graduated: 2025

Area(s) of Interest: Aman is a MIMS candidate at Berkeley's iSchool focusing on UX Research, emphasizing ergonomics and human factors. Areas of interest include consumer electronics, wearable technologies, and healthcare.

Projects: Sonography design, Pipette design

Desired Employment: Hardware UX

Jiayin Chen

Student Researcher
Human Factors & Ergonomics

Degree Program: Bachelor of Arts

Graduated: 2024

Area(s) of Interest: occupational health, job risk assessment, work measurement, built environment design, cognitive human factors

Projects: Time Motion Study of Janitorial Workers in California

Patrick Benda

Student Researcher
Human Factors & Ergonomics
Degree Program: Master of Science in Medical Engineering Graduated: 2024 Area(s) of Interest: Biomechanical design, wearable technology, programming for healthcare innovation Projects: Leveraging EMG and IMU sensors to quantify risk factors for distal upper extremity disorders through a machine learning-based approach Desired Employment: Industry or Research

Michelle Beltran

Program Director
Continuing Education

Kevin Ru

Student Researcher
Occupational & Environmental Epidemiology

Degree Program: Master of Public Health

Graduated: 2024

Area(s) of Interest: Chronic disease disparities, occupational health exposures, air pollution, toxicology, social determinants of health

Projects: Janitor workload study assessing the impact of union representation on workers' exposures and adverse health outcomes

Desired Employment: Public Agency, Industry

Gina Solomon, MD, MPH

Chief of the Division of OECM at UCSF | Program Director
Occupational, Environmental and Climate Medicine

Carisa Harris, PhD, CPE

Director of COEH | Director of UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Graduate Training Program | STEER Director

Associate Professor and Director Carisa Harris Adamson, PhD, CPE is the primary graduate advisor for M.S., MPH and Ph.D. students; approximately 50% of her time is directly involved in teaching and mentoring (e.g. courses, oversight of graduate students' research projects, mentoring field/clinical internships etc). She is a Faculty Member in the Department of Medicine at University of California San Francisco with a...