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On this intermission, I interview Megan McCray, who moved to South Dakota to study Human Factors Engineering. Learn about human factors, a dog with excessive toe fur, and more about Megan and her studies in the USD graduate school.
Aaron Harmon:
Welcome to Inside Out quality intermissions, where we give you a closer look at the people who make this podcast possible and short features of local professionals in the biotech industry. Welcome to Inside Out quality intermission with Megan McCray. Hi, Megan. Hi, Aaron. The reason I've got you on this intermission is you are a graduate student at USD studying human factors engineering. And that's a huge thing in our space, the medical device space.
Megan McCray:
It is, I am, I started last year and working my way towards a Master's and PhD.
Aaron Harmon:
So what got you into this field?
Megan McCray:
If I, you know, said that I was born a human factors engineer and knew this for life, I would definitely be lying. I think a lot of people in our field kind of fall into it. But looking back, I do like to fix things and make things better. And a little bit mean, to me aspects of my life. So it is a good fix. Really, what got me into it was studying psychology and undergrad and working in the hospital space. There was a lot of examples of human factors engineering. And so as I got more familiar with psychology, and more familiar with the shortcomings that are healthcare, the interest kind of aligned for human factors.
Aaron Harmon:
So I've got some questions. Some of them are quite random. Let's have a little more serious. Do you have any pets?
Megan McCray:
I do. So I have one dog and two cats. Any names? Sure. Toefur is a dog's name. We couldn't decide on a name for the dog. But he had the fluffiest feet. So like the fur on your toes. That's our dog's name. And then I have Jun, and Delilah forget.
Aaron Harmon:
So you're studying at USD? What do you like most about USD.
Megan McCray:
I really like the people in our program. Most grad programs are or tend to be kind of small. So we're a pretty close knit group. Just getting involved with side projects and just understanding each other's interest in research early like the the close knit nature of it.
Aaron Harmon:
This podcast is about quality. So how would you define the word quality?
Megan McCray:
A deliberate emphasis on good design. And I guess that goes into what is good design. So you want you know, efficiency, longevity, but I'd say efficient and
Aaron Harmon:
sustainable. If you could change the year you were born in? What would you choose?
Megan McCray:
Oh, I would go hundreds of years earlier. My boyfriend and I like to backpack. We do like hammock camping and just like off the grid style stuff. And we always joke about life before modern technology. So I would go, you know, 1700s Maybe.
Aaron Harmon:
What restaurant do you recommend in Sioux Falls?
Megan McCray:
If anybody has a good pizza restaurant, let me know. We've had the worst time trying to find good pizza here. Anything would be good.
Aaron Harmon:
Oh, which restaurant do you eat the most out?
Megan McCray:
We really don't eat out we cook a lot house. That's why I'm having trouble here. Okay,
Aaron Harmon:
we can move on. Okay, there's more? Sure. So, if you can make any new biotech product, what would it do?
Megan McCray:
I would say probably in the diagnostic field, as far as, especially within radiology, there's a lot of interesting literature on the fact that even with AI, we're not super great at detecting tumors or abnormalities in X rays. And it kind of takes that specialists. So being able to develop in that space, just because there are no constraints within this question, I would say that's probably a place that needs a lot of or has a lot of room for improvement.
Aaron Harmon:
So the field you study is human factors engineering. What advice do you have for people designing products right now for the medical device space and the biotech area?
Megan McCray:
Um, if you don't know what human factors is, go look it up. If you think you know, human factors is look it up again, I would definitely encourage seeking out deliberate people or people that are solely in charge of human factors for the fact that it takes a lot of work and emphasis to really get Human Factors correct. And it's, it's crucial in the medical device and biotech space.
Aaron Harmon:
Now, on the show, we talked about a medical device, product development stance, but you also mentioned healthcare, are there other applications where human factors makes a difference?
Megan McCray:
Absolutely. So outside of health care, medical devices and combination products you have transportation is a huge one. So aerospace and even vehicular transportation. Also in computer science, web design, even the breakdown of like, how a menu expands can all be related back to the psychology behind human factors.
Aaron Harmon:
Do you have any good jokes?
Megan McCray:
Oh, no, I'm not a joke teller. I will laugh at about any joke that you tell me but no, no, not a joke teller.
Aaron Harmon:
How about hobbies?
Megan McCray:
Sure. I like to run in currently, we've started this endeavor that was originally to help socialize my dog just because he's an only dog which sounds ridiculous, but where am I at home working all day, and, you know, my boyfriend's out and he has his job and my dog gets lonely. So we've started pet sitting, and we've had numerous amounts of dogs come over. So that's become my new little pet project, literally. We've had a variety of different canines,
Aaron Harmon:
are there any species that are off limits, like cute little Boston Terrier that might need to be washed once in a while?
Megan McCray:
Hey, we had a Boston Terrier last weekend, and she was great. I'm not a little dog person, or I didn't think I was, but they're great.
Aaron Harmon:
I have a dog Stitch that might need some occasional dogs. Yes, we're open. I think the last question would be in terms of your studies and human factors, what part of it do you find to be the most gratifying?
Megan McCray:
I would go with when you're given the platform to speak your ideas, and you have a receptive audience, which I would like to mention that this hasn't been a normal case, for me at least. And they're like, Absolutely. That's a great idea. How did you even think of that? And to me, I'm like, Oh, of course, this is what we do. But to them. It's innovative and fresh and new and a great application of engineering and psychology. I should also ask,
Aaron Harmon:
how do you define human factors engineering?
Megan McCray:
Human factors is the study between humans and technology. And so we're interested in things like safety, efficiency, anything that promotes the usability of a product, making sure that we reduce error to as as low as possible. Thank you for being on the show.
Aaron Harmon:
appreciate having you of course.
Megan McCray:
Thanks for having me.
Aaron Harmon:
Stay tuned for future innovations.
Diane Cox:
We hope you enjoyed this episode. This was brought to you thanks to South Dakota biotech Association. If you have a story you'd like us to explore and share, let us know by visiting www.sdbio.org.
Aaron Harmon:
Other resources for quality include the University of South Dakota's biomedical engineering department, where you can find courses on quality systems, regulatory affairs, and medical product development. Also, if you live in Sioux Falls area, check out quit a local Quality Assurance Professionals Network. You can find out more about pivot by clicking on the link on our website to the end and I would like to thank several people, but a few who stand out are Nate peple for a support with audio mixing Barbara Durrell, Christian or support with graphics design and web. And lastly, the support from South Dakota bio
