Mark Benden

Mark Benden is director of the Ergonomics Center, a faculty fellow with the Center for Health Systems and Design, and associate professor and head of the Environmental and Occupational Health Department in the School of Public Health. His research interests are office worker obesity, classroom ergonomics and childhood obesity, medical device development and testing, and sedentary behavior intervention. He is the chief executive officer of two faculty-led startups, PositiveMotion LLC and Stand2Learn LLC, and has licensed five products to four different companies since becoming a faculty member. Benden's career includes experience as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, inventor, rehabilitation engineer, ergonomics consultant, plant and corporate ergonomics engineer for Johnson & Johnson, and executive vice president for Neutral Posture. His 25-year career in occupational safety and ergonomics has produced multiple processes, tools and devices to ease injury and illness risk. Benden holds 21 U.S. patents with several more pending. He has authored many articles, books and book chapters on ergonomics and has lectured for multiple professional groups throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America. He earned a bachelor’s in bioengineering, a master’s in industrial engineering, and a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary engineering, all from Texas A&M.