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John W. Senders Working Collection

 Collection
Identifier: SC-096

Scope and Contents

Series I: Research Files, 1880-2014, Undated, contains published and unpublished papers by John W. Senders and other authors. Series broken down to four subseries and each subseries organized in chronological order from earliest date to the latest. The papers with no date were classified as "undated", and are at the end of each subseries.

Series II: Audio-Visual Tapes, Undated, holds thirty-three VHS tapes record lectures on Human Factors delivered by John W. Senders, Richard W. Pew, Tom Sheridan, and Neville Moray. Includes topics such as introduction, quality of data, light and vision, vision and colors, human vision, audition, design using Human Engineering Guide to Equipment Design (HEGED), human engineering data, human informatics processing, error, protocol analysis, models of human performance, human information processing, analysis of performance, learning theory, mental modelling, control room design, human nervous system, complex process control, and summary. The VHS tapes are kept in the original order during processing.

Series III: Photographs, Undated, contains ten images of semicircular canals of animals created by Naval Missile Center, Point Mugu, California. Includes black ape, brush-tailed wallaby, fowl, seal, dog, duckbilled platypus, dugong, horse, indian fruit bat, and man.

Series IV: Personal Documents, 1960-2013, Undated, includes various bibliographical references, notes, correspondence, curriculum vitae of John W. Senders, legal consultations, conference flyer, affidavit for "More Stuff and Splotch Design", biographical sketch of John W. Senders, draft copy of an affidavit "The best fry you'll every try", speech for friends and relatives, admission tickets for Harvard Alumni Association commencement day and a poem called "More on the Eye" by John W. Senders.

Dates

  • created: 1880-2014

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The entire collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Biographical or Historical Information

John W. Senders was born on February 26, 1920 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He attended Russell School for eight years prior to high school. After graduating high school, he worked for General Electric's River Works as a test engineer for aircraft generators. Following his employment at General Electric's River Works, he was admitted to Harvard College in 1944 and graduated in June of 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. During his freshman year, he married Virginia (Ginny) Ruth Loftus, and had two children, Warren R. Senders and Stefan J. Senders. Ginny became Associate Professor of Psychology at Antioch College in 1952, doing research for the Army Air Corps. After divorcing Ginny in 1975, he married Ann Crichton-Harris, who had three children from a previous marriage, Daniel, Abigail, and Adam (Sellen). John continued to pursue higher education and received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands in 1983. Over the course of his long career, he has engaged numerous research, teaching and consulting in the behavioral sciences. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, University of Maine, and York University. The areas in which he taught include Experimental and Quantitative Psychology, Human Factors Engineering, Man-Machine Systems Analysis, Human Error and Reliability, Statistics, and Law. During the past 20 years, he has, from time to time, consulted with lawyers to provide assistance in proceedings involving trademarks and trade names, as well as other matters. He considered an expert in the study of human perception, and his opinion has been accepted as evidence in a number of Canadian trade mark cases.

His professional experience includes Production Manager to Chief Electronics Engineer, General Control Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1943-1948; Consulting Engineer in private practice 1948-1950; Chief, Control Section, Psychology Branch, U.S.A.F. Aero Medical Laboratory, Wright-Patterson A.F.B., Ohio, 1950-1956; Head of Department of Psychology, U.S.A.F. Artic Aero Medical Laboratory, Fairbanks, Alaska 1956-1957; Principal Research Scientist, Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1957-1962; Consultant in Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1961; Principal Scientist and Manager, Engineering Psychology Department, Bolt, Bernanek and Newman Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1962-1970; Lecturer and Senior Research Associate in Psychology, Brandeis University, 1965-1972; Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966-1967; President, Senders Associates, Inc., 1968-1973; Visiting Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, 1973; Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, 1974-Present; Senior Research Associate in Psychology, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1979-1980; Adjunct Professor of Engineering and Psychology, University of Maine at Orono, 1981-1988.

He was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was an advisory member of the Committee on Vision, of the Committee on Hearing, Biomechanics and Bioacoustics, and of the Bioastronautics Committee, all of the National Research Council (U.S.), and many editorial boards of scientific journals. He served as a consultant, advisor, reviewer, and committee member to many government agencies such as the National Science Foundation (U.S.), The National Science and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the United States Postal Service, and Atomic Energy Canada Limited. He published numerous scientific articles on problems of human performance and perception, and he presented many papers at professional and scientific society meetings.

He received Cheers Award from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices with the citation "Recognizing actions that have set a standard of excellence in the prevention of medication errors" (2001), Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) Pioneer Award in Electronic Publishing (2008), and Franklin C. Taylor Award for Outstanding Career Contributions to the field (2010).

Complications from pneumonia, two weeks before the 99th birthday, John W. Senders passed away on February 12, 2019. He is survived by his wife, Ann Crichton-Harris, of Toronto, by his first wife, Virginia Loftus Senders, of Amherst, Massachusetts, and by five children.

Extent

25.25 Linear Feet (28 Boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

John W. Senders Working Collection contains materials on human factors engineering. Senders is one of the pioneers of the field of Engineering Psychology, with a long and influential career spanning six decades as a psychologist and human factors engineer. He was one of the first scientists to apply mathematical models on human behavior in applied settings. Senders collection includes selected reprints representatives of the scientific literature on various topics in Engineering Psychology and Human Factors mainly from circa 1945 to 2013.

Arrangement Note

This collection contains four series arranged by type of material. Within the series, files are arranged in chronological order.

Method of Acquisition

John W. Senders donated these materials to the University of Central Florida Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives in 2013 (CFM2013_07). Additional materials were donated in 2017 (CFM2017_08).

Related Materials

Related materials may be found in the UCF Library Online Catalog.

Processing Information

Rusty staples and binders removed from the collection; materials were placed in pH neutral folders and archival boxes. Processed by Suphi Burak Ogreten, Racheile M. Ricklefs and Renata Nagy; finding aid prepared by Suphi Burak Ogreten and Renata Nagy.

Title
John W. Senders Working Collection
Author
Suphi Burak Ogreten
Date
00/00/2016
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the UCF Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections & University Archives
University of Central Florida Libraries
P.O. Box 162666
Orlando Florida 32816-2666 US
(407) 823-2576