To return to the contents page, click your browser's "Back" button.
BACKGROUND:
Title: Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Program
(HFAC) (MA, PhD). Contact: Wayne D. Gray, George Mason University, M/S
3f5; Fairfax, VA 22030; 703/993-1357; hf-ac@gmu.edu or gray@gmu.edu, http://hfac.gmu.edu/. Est: MA 1972, PsyD
1983, PhD 1990. Semester. Granted last 3 years: MA 15, PhD 8.
Part time: MA yes, PhD no. Program: MA: The HFAC specialization
trains students in the application of cognitive science to "real-world"
problems. Students gain expertise in such areas as human-computer interaction,
cognitive system engineering, surface transportation, and aviation. Faculty
members help place students who do not have real-world experience in a part- or
full-time practicum before completing their degree. MA students can elect to
focus on either professional training or preparation for doctoral programs. Both
tracks stress the analytic and empirical methodologies that are used in all
phases of interactive systems design (where this is broadly defined to include
any human-machine system). The power and interpretation of these techniques
reside in their close ties to cognitive theory. The professional training track
emphasizes course work and practical experience; the doctoral preparation track
involves students in ongoing research projects. Many human factors and applied
cognitive professionals work closely with engineers and computer scientists. It
is therefore not surprising that many people with bachelor-level training as
engineers and computer scientists express interest in HFAC as a profession.
Obstacles to such career paths have included the apathy of traditional
engineering and computer science schools toward such training, as well as
entrance barriers erected by psychology departments against those without
substantial undergraduate course work in psychology. The Psychology Department
at George Mason University seeks to overcome such traditional barriers and
facilitate the graduate training of engineers and computer scientists in our
HFAC master's program. PhD: GMU's Applied Cognitive Program emphasizes
research that applies cognitive science theory to human factors concerns. Our
emphasis is twofold: (1) research that extends cognitive theory in areas where
practice has found it deficient; and (2) research that applies cognitive
theories to build tools that can be used by practitioners to design
human-machine systems. Students gain expertise in such areas as human-computer
interaction, transportation, cognitive system engineering, cognitive ergonomics,
telecommunications, process control, and computational cognitive modeling.
Faculty help place students who do not have real-world experience in a part- or
full-time practicum before completing their degree. The Washington, D.C., area
boasts one of the largest concentrations of HFAC professionals in the nation.
The historically strong concentration of government labs (such as Naval Research
Laboratories, Army Research Institute, the Federal Highway Administration, the
Federal Aviation Agency, and NASA) has been recently augmented by a growth in
the software industries. This concentration benefits GMU's HFAC program in many
ways. We draw upon these professionals as a source of adjunct faculty to
supplement the expertise of the full-time faculty. Furthermore, the various
laboratories, agencies, and industries provide numerous opportunities for
practicum placements as well as job possibilities after the PhD. HFES student
chapter: yes. Catalog: ($5, $7 overseas; send check or money order
payable to the GMU Bookstore) George Mason University Bookstore, M/S 3a6,
Fairfax, VA 22030.
APPLICATION:
Deadline: Applications will be reviewed and
admissions decisions made (beginning 1/1 for PhD, 2/1 for MA). Review and
admissions will continue until the class is full. Fees: $30. Separate
applications required for university and department.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
PhD: GPA: 3.0. GRE: 1100 v + q. MA:
GPA: 3.0. GRE: 1000 v + q. Other: In keeping with the
eclectic nature of the field, candidates with eclectic backgrounds are
preferred. We try to evaluate the candidate as a whole to find trade-offs among
undergraduate degree, work experience, research experience, and other factors.
Some of the skills we value in a candidate include knowledge of human
information processing (recommended); experimental design (rec.); statistics
(rec.); computer programming (rec.); and/or evidence of an interest in applying
cognitive theory to real-world problems (rec.). Special consideration is given
to those with engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees.
Research: PhD high, MA low. Work experience: medium.
Letters: PhD high, MA medium. Interview: PhD medium, MA
low.
ADMISSIONS:
Students applying last year: PhD 10, MA 24.
Accepted: PhD 2, MA 12. Entered program: PhD 2, MA 10.
Openings/year: PhD 2-4, MA 10-15.
TUITION AND FEES:
Residents: $195/credit (about 9 credits/semester for
full-time students). Nonresidents: $500/credit.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:% receiving: PhD 100, MA 50. Doctoral students: 100% who wish support are receiving support. Master's students: For those who wish support, approx. 50% receive support after acceptance into the program but before beginning the program. The remaining master's students are placed with local agencies and companies after they begin the program. In the last five years, all master's students have had some support before completing their first semester. Amount: PhD $14400/year + tuition. MA $8000-$12000/year with partial support for tuition. Available: fellowships, TA, RA, scholarships, all tuition exempt. Apply: with application.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
MA: 32 units, no exams or languages required,
research and practical experience encouraged but optional, 2 years. Nonthesis
option: yes. PhD: 88 units, comprehensive exam to advance to
candidacy and oral defense of dissertation required, no languages required,
research required, practical experience required, 4-6 years.
CURRICULUM:
Required courses (units): Cognitive Engineering:
Cognitive Science Applied to HF (3); Task Analysis, Cognitive Task Analysis, and
Protocol Analysis (3); Advanced Statistics and Research Methods Psych (8).
Required or elective courses: Seminar in Human Factors & Applied Cognition
(3); Seminar in Human-Technology Interactions (3); Advanced Topics in Sensation
and Perception (3); Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science (3). (With permission
of adviser, the above 4 courses may be repeated for credit; most are run as
special topics. MA students must take 2 of the above 4 courses.) Required
courses outside department: 0. Recommended courses outside department:
Students may choose up to 6 hours of practica (contingent on availability)
and/or up to 6 hours of thesis research. In addition, up to 9 hours of elective
courses, from within or outside the department, may be taken with adviser's
approval. Offered: night. Class size: 8-15.
RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES:
Research facilities: The Human Factors and
Applied Cognition program is housed in the ARCH Lab. Facilities include nine
data collection rooms, five data analysis rooms, and space for five tenure-line
faculty, two research faculty, and 15 graduate students. Each research room is
equipped with 10BaseT Ethernet and a G4 or Pentium computer. Equipment includes
an ASL 5000 eye tracker, several scan converters and video cameras, video
editing facilities, many laser printers, scanners, an aircraft simulator, and so
on. Extensive contacts among the aviation and military research communities
facilitate the collection of off-site data in these domains, when needed.
Teaching: All doctoral students are encouraged to work one or two
semesters as a teaching assistant. Courses typically available to HFAC students
include undergraduate statistics, memory and cognition (lab course), and
perception and sensation (lab course). In addition, advanced doctoral students
may teach one of these courses as the instructor. Current research: HFAC faculty
and students are engaged in research and consulting for government and industry.
Domain and industry examples include aviation (FAA, commercial aviation, and Air
Force), ground transportation, education/training, Navy (submarines),
human-computer interaction, telecommunications, distance education, and
intelligent vehicle-highway systems. By research topic, examples include
cognitive workload, human error, computational models of situation assessment,
display-based problem solving, scientific reasoning, strategic control of
attention, expertise in programming, spatial vs. verbal displays as navigation
aids, role of trust in using automated devices.
STUDENT STATISTICS.Active: 11 men, 5 women. First-year students: 1 PhD, 10 MA. Mean scores: PhD: GRE 620 v, 640 q, 620 a, GPA: 3.44. MA: GRE 560 v, 620 q, 610 a. GPA: 3.10.
FACULTY. John Allen, PhD 1971, North
Carolina State U; simulation, training, human performance. Deborah
Boehm-Davis, PhD 1980, U California, Berkeley; human-computer interaction,
transportation (aviation, highway), psychology of programming. Wayne D.
Gray, PhD 1979, U California, Berkeley; human-computer interaction,
computational cognitive modeling, cognitive task analysis. Robert Holt,
PhD 1978, U Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; aviation, group decision-making.
Chris Kello, PhD 1995, U California, Santa Cruz; connectionist modeling,
cognitive control, spoken and written language processing.