Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Lawrence Schulze has been named a fellow of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) after over twenty years of continuous service and involvement in the organization. Previously, Schulze has held roles including Gulf Coast Chapter VP of Membership Services, Treasurer, and President, as well as Region III Vice President and multiple practice specialty chairs. He is ASSP's representative and voting board member in the National Institute for Engineering Ethics.
The ASSP is a global association for occupational safety and health professionals and has supported them in their efforts to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities for more than 100 years.
“Fellow” is ASSP’s most prestigious honor, recognizing significant commitment, achievement and leadership in the occupational safety and health (OSH) profession. Recipients are honored with a medallion and plaque, and retain lifetime access to conferences and events to help them stay connected with other highly-accomplished safety professionals. Only 152 Fellows have been selected in ASSP’s 113-year history.
When past ASSP President Pamela Walaski contacted him in April to inform him of his selection, Schulze was “shocked.”
“There are so many great ASSP members who have served in more society positions than I have and have been more visible. It is such a great and humbling honor to be recognized for making a positive contribution to people, property and the environment,” he said.
“I am an applied researcher. I like investigating and problem solving to make recommendations that are practical, feasible, implementable and cost-effective. This is what the Safety Professional needs and wants. … While theory is good on paper, it is the application that makes the difference in the lives of workers, the protection of property and the protection of the environment.”
Schulze said ASSP and his membership thereof “have kept [him] grounded and focused on practical problem-solving” and “using both [his] psychology and engineering backgrounds to develop practical interventions to real-world issues.”
Schulze’s father was a WWII veteran and a safety specialist in the agricultural extension service and played an integral role in guiding Schulze’s belief in the superiority and efficiency of prevention as opposed to post-incident cure.
“I remember, as a very young boy, watching my father pull tractors up ramps and tip them over when he was working on the design of farm tractor roll bars (also known as Rollover Protection Structure, or ROPS) and thinking that designing something to prevent injury was a pretty cool job,” Schulze said. “My philosophy on safety is that any intervention has to be practical, implementable, feasible, cost-effective and designed so that it is usable. Something hard to use does not get used.”
Going forward as a Fellow, an associate professor, and a safety professional, Schulze intends to get “as much up-to-date and useful information into the hands of safety professionals” as he can, as well as continue working to practically address the evolving safety concerns of a modern world: in addition to safe lithium-ion battery storage, applications and transportation, he is also involved in Key Interest Collaboration Sessions (KICS) in areas including robotics in the workplace, AI and large energy storage facility safety.