About the Collection

Suzanne H. Rodgers, Ph.D. was an internationally recognized scholar, consultant and leader of the field of occupational ergonomics. She received her doctorate in Physiology in 1967 from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. After a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in London where she studied the control of blood pressure, heart rate and respiration, she joined the Human Factors/Ergonomics Group at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. Working with engineers, medical specialists, psychologists and computer and statistical specialists, Dr. Rodgers spent the next thirteen years studying people at work. In 1982, she left Kodak to start her own ergonomics consulting and training business with the focus on participatory approaches to ergonomics problem solving. From 1982-1988, she taught IE 436/536 “The Physiological Basis of Human Factors” to students of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo [now the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University at Buffalo, SUNY].

Dr. Rodgers was a principal author and technical editor for Kodak’s two-volume series, Ergonomic Design for People at Work published in 1982 and 1986, and the second edition that was published in 2004. She also wrote Working with Backache that was published in 1985. She has published a number of important journal articles and position papers in ergonomics and medical journals, and spoke frequently at professional conferences. For many years, she was an important leader and organizer of the Lucien Brouha Work Physiology Symposium.

Dr. Rodgers had a profound impact on many ergonomics professionals, hundreds of students and thousands of workers. This collection illustrates some of the many contributions Dr. Rodgers made as a leader and pioneer of the ergonomics profession. It includes samples of her textbooks, journal articles, worksite training syllabi, conference presentations and other professional and personal contributions. This collection also contains examples of her writing, illustrations, and workshop/conference schedules.