BLACKSBURG, Va., Dec. 1, 2009 – Continuing a 14-year tradition, the United Parcel Service (UPS) Foundation has awarded a $40,000 grant to Virginia Tech's Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Funds will be used to support doctoral students in the Grado department’s Human Factors Engineering/ Ergonomics graduate program. Funded research for this year will focus on package handling and delivery ergonomics for drivers; ergonomics of hand-held data entry devices, such as scanning devices, DIADs; road and vehicle design safety factors; and personal protective equipment design and application.
This is the 14th consecutive year that the UPS Foundation has supported the Grado department with grant funding, said John Casali, the John Grado Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Casali made his first proposal for the UPS grant in 1995, and since has served as the foundation’s coordinator at Virginia Tech.
UPS has awarded approximately $700,000 under this particular grant to the College of Engineering, thereby funding more than 25 doctoral degree students. Casali’s relationship with UPS also has resulted in representatives from the corporate giant serving on the industrial and systems engineering advisory board since the mid-1990s.
Based in Atlanta, the UPS Foundation identifies specific areas in nonprofit effectiveness, economic and global literacy, encouraging diversity, community safety, and environmental sustainability in issuing its grants.
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