Master of Science in
Human Factors

Introduction

The Department of Human Factors offers graduate instruction leading to the Master of Science degree in Human Factors. This program is designed to meet the highest academic standards, fully preparing students for doctoral-level studies while at the same time preparing students for immediate employment in the real world of cost-sensitive and operationally driven aviation/aerospace and technical environments.

The masters program will produce a graduate with the capacity to design, conduct, and apply human factors methods research in support of simple and complex systems. Graduates will work as a human factors professionals in government, academic and private organizations. A variety of research, consulting, and internship opportunities are available throughout the program.

Students receive education in the principles of human factors and experimental psychology, including statistical and quantitative procedures, experimental design, and applied human centered design methods.

A combined Human Factors program is available. Please see the undergraduate Human Factors program for details.

The Master of Science in Human Factors (MSHF) is an online program tailored to working professionals who want to better understand the interrelationship between humans and technology, environment, and other system components, as relates to human performance, limitations, and error in simple and complex systems. This multidisciplinary degree explores how humans interact with technology, designs, social systems, operational interfaces, and environmental factors in contexts that include healthcare, aerospace, transportation, military, security, virtual and augmented reality, simulation, computing, and other complex sociotechnical systems concerned with human performance, system design, and safety.

Students have the opportunity to pursue either a Specialist or Research Cognate, to tailor the learning experience to their specific needs, professional goals, and industry demands. Along either track, students can expect to study human physiology, cognition, psychology; human performance capabilities, limitations and errors; virtual, robotic, and simulation environments and the human experience; and the impact of ergonomics, biomechanics, and anthropometrics on human effectiveness and interactions within complex sociotechnical systems.

Students will also learn and apply the critical thought and synthesis skills required to analyze current trends and past events and designs, in which human error led to operational failures, as core elements of the curriculum in either track. Our goal is for graduates to emerge from the MS in Human Factors program with the knowledge and ability to identify trends, analyze system requirements, develop strategies, recommend solutions, and recognize opportunities for innovation in this field.

Students may opt for the opportunity to complete the Specialist Cognate, which does not incorporate the research focus (30 credits), or to pursue the Research Cognate (33 credits), which incorporates Research Methods, Statistical Analysis, and the culminating Thesis I and II. This option will allow the student to complete original human factors research at the end of the MSHF degree program.

The MSHF degree program does not include any elective courses or specializations, and it follows a prescribed prerequisite course progression for the first two core courses; MSHF 606 and MSHF 612 must be successfully completed before a student may progress in the Program, and the thesis courses ~(RSCH 700A and RSCH 700B respectively) must be the final culminating courses.

Estimated Cost of Attendance