IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2015 - 17

teacher in Singapore and a modern arts
teacher in New York for comments.

Human Factors Engineering
At the end of secondary school as Vivien
started to look at colleges, she was confused and approached her mother. She
loved both art and science, and she didn't
want to choose between them. What could
she do that would combine both? Her
mother, a civil engineer, did not know
the answer. Vivien discovered the field of
human factors engineering, also known
as engineering psychology, within the
Mechanical Engineering Department at
Tufts University, and it was the perfect fit.
Human factors engineering focuses on
the human-centered aspects of engineering applications such as ergonomics, workplace safety, and product design. When people and engineering are brought together,
what will happen? What are the human
strengths and limitations that will impact
the success of the product? In a hospital
setting, for example, human factors engineers may consider how equipment can be
designed to prevent accidental misuse by
nurses and doctors, and the suggestions
may be as simple as ensuring different size
catheters and bags for different uses so that
the wrong fluids are not administered.
Human factors engineers also work
to prevent companies from bringing illconceived products to market, like hardto-reach buttons and impossible-to-turn
knobs. For those who focus on physical
ergonomics, they deal with human anatomy and how the human body works with
products. This is especially important in the
medical field, as engineers consider how
someone with a physical limitation such as
arthritis can open a jar or a pill bottle.
As a student of human factors engineering, Vivien had a strong interest in using
her skills to help the disabled. One of the
ideas that Vivien studied at Tufts was how
to improve devices, such as spoons, to make
them more user-friendly for the disabled.
As a technology lover and an avid
reader of WIRED magazine, Vivien was

One
of the ideas
that Vivien studied
at Tufts was how to
improve devices, such
as spoons, to make
them more userfriendly for the
disabled.

also interested in
the field of user
experience (UX)
design. She often
attempted to describe for others the
difference between this
and user interface (UI) design, explaining that UI design is
the design of the graphical user interface
itself, which involves creative and branding decisions, while UX design defines the
entire user experience. In other words,
a proper UI design is informed by what
is uncovered during the design of the
UX architecture.
In a blog post from April 2013, Vivien
humbly described the process that led to
her becoming the creator of the Class of
2013 banner that now hangs in the Tufts
Campus Center. This banner and subsequent blog post demonstrate the blend of
art and technology Vivien so loved:
When I first saw the class banners of generations past hanging in
the Campus Center during freshman orientation, my lips curled. It's
not that the designs are uninspired
or the quotations trite. The problem was, they all bore the marks of
the tools that made them: MS Paint,
PowerPoint WordArt, clip art, all the
visual banalities of desktop publishing. Some were more interesting
than others, but none of them transcended their roots. None of them
were truly beautiful. I swore then
and there to make a better one for
my graduating class, if the chance
arises...and it did.

Vivien's Legacy
Eva is considering different ideas for the
foundation that she would like to set up
in Vivien's name. The future foundation
could offer financial assistance to disabled members of the community who
have talents in art and engineering, or it
could provide a place for children to learn
art and ceramics. No matter which direc-

june 2015

tion it takes, the
foundation will be
structured around
Vivien's love of art
and design.
But the foundation
is only one of many ways
in which Vivien's legacy will
live on. Vivien did not like to waste
things. She also was very good at repairing broken items. If her mother had a food
processor that was leaking, Vivien could
figure out why. Once, when her mother
went to dispose of a cracked crystal jar,
Vivien brought out her plasticine. "She
wouldn't let me throw things away," her
mother says.
One day, Eva was in the midst of
her annual spring cleaning when her
unhappy daughter interrupted her. "You
want to give to charity something that
you don't want," Vivien told her, "but it
should be something that you do want."
Her mother smiles as she recalls this
moment that truly moved her at the time.
"I try to pick up her habits," she adds.
Eva has set up a giving page to benefit Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center. This Web page, at http://mskcc.
convio.net/goto/Vivien_J_Lim, has raised
over US$33,000 to help researchers find
a cure, or at least a standard therapy, for
myoepithelial carcinoma of the parotid
salivary gland.
Xiaochong recalls a visit to Vivien
during her cancer fight: "On my second
night at her place, she suggested we 'do
one of those crazy midnight bakings all
over again' after dinner. We baked very
simple chocolate cookies. Though visibly
exhausted, she was very happy. It was the
beauty in the simple things-in hope, and
in friendship-that Vivien truly loved.
She never let her sickness stop her from
enjoying life whenever she could."
-Katianne Williams is a freelance
writer specializing in the technology field.

iEEE women in engineering magazine

http://mskcc http://www.convio.net/goto/Vivien_J_Lim

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2015