CARLETON UNIVERSITY
Ottawa, Ontario
Department of Psychology

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BACKGROUND:
Title: Human Computer Interaction (MA or PhD Psychology-HCI)
Est: 1978
Semester
Granted last 3 years: 15 MA 0 PhD (PhD part of the program is new)
Part-time: yes
HFES student chapter: no
Program: The program is based firmly on psychology emphasizing contributions psychological theory, methods, and techniques can make to HCI theory and practice. The goals and objectives at the BA (Hons) level are to introduce students to HCI theory and practice. This degree includes three Co-op work terms in different companies/organizations. At the MA level the goal is to train highly qualified personnel, graduates who are capable of working effectively on any aspect of HCI in multidisciplinary teams. At the PhD level, the aim is for candidates to make a unique, theory-driven contribution to HCI with a solid foundation in psychology.
Contact: Gitte Lindgaard, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S-5B6, 613/520-2600 x 2255, gitte_lindgaard@carleton.ca, http://www.carleton.ca/hotlab.
Catalog: (free) Roger Blockley, Dean Graduate Studies, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada

APPLICATION:
Deadlines: 1/15 fall, 11/1 spring
Fee: $75

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
GPA: 4.0, or 10.7 (on a 1-12 scale)
GRE: n/r
Research: medium
Work experience: medium
Letters: high
Interview: n/r

ADMISSIONS:
Students applying last year: 7
B>Accepted: 6
Entered program: 6
Openings/year: 6 MA, 6 PhD

TUITION AND FEES:
Resident: $2,057.36/summer; $4,280.67/fall-winter. http://www.carleton.ca/fees/06S/fees/grad/06SDomGraduate.html
Nonresident: $4,477.36/summer; $9,648.67/fall-winter. http://www.carleton.ca/fees/06S/fees/grad/06SIntGraduate.html

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
% receiving: 45
Amount: $3000/$20000
Available: TA, RA
Apply: Only applicants for Fall admission over 80% GPA are eligible. No need to apply.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
MA: 5 credits, oral defense of prospectus, oral defense of thesis, dissertation, 2 years
Nonthesis option: no
PhD: 10 credits, oral defense of prospectus, comprehensive exam, oral defense of thesis, dissertation, 4-5 years

CURRICULUM:
Required courses (credits): B.A. Honours (or the equivalent) in psychology with at least high honours standing (B+ in psychology and B overall) and must include Design and Analysis in Psychological Research (1), Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction (Honours Seminar, 1), and a thesis with a topic in Human-Computer Interaction (1), Advanced Analysis of Variance (0.5), or Advanced Regression (0.5)
Electives: Fundamentals of Computing for Psychologists (0.5), Computers and Cognition (0.5), Psychological Aspects of Computer Use (0.5), Social Aspects of Computer Use (0.5)
Required courses outside department: 0
Recommended courses outside department: Psychological Aspects of Product Design Methodology (1)
Required for Ph.D: Master's degree in Psychology (or equivalent) with at least an A-average GPA (80%). The master's program usually consists of 5.0 credits, of which at least two must be at the graduate level and a thesis (equivalent to 2.0 credits) which must be defended at an oral examination. "Advanced Analysis of Variance" [0.5 credit] and "Advanced Regression" [0.5 credit] courses are required of all graduate students. Note: These are the minimum requirements for applicants however competition is high and final acceptance decisions are made on a comparison basis. We only select the top candidates for admission and therefore meeting the minimum requirements does not automatically guarantee acceptance into the program.
Class size: 5-35
Faculty-to-student ratio: 4:18

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES:
Research facilities: We run much of our research in groups including faculty, PhD graduates employed as full-time researchers, post doctoral fellows, graduate students, and at times, undergraduate HCI students. We offer excellent laboratory facilities complete with technical assistance. A new building currently being erected will give us roughly 8 times the space we currently have as well as up-to-date equipment. Payment for experimental participants usually come from faculty's grants.
Teaching: PhD students may be given an opportunity to teach a course at the undergraduate level as a sessional lecturer, but this is not a requirement.
Current research: Advanced and innovative interactive technologies: information visualization, and advanced interaction approaches such as multi-modal, multi-sensory interfaces; affective user interface design-we explore the relationship between aesthetics, emotion, trust, risk and cognition/human performance; decision making, creative thinking and problem solving in a wide range of applications including medical diagnostic and prognostic decision support system; socio-technical systems: modeling how people interact with each other and with technology in a complex contexts/socio-technical systems; orientation and navigation in real and virtual worlds; task and work environment design taking human cognitive capabilities into consideration; practical and theoretical aspects of language technologies in interactive systems; agile processes for software development; software component structure; we explore novel structures in software visualization; semiotics and literary analysis to study communication patterns in software.

STUDENT STATISTICS:
Active: 4 men, 14 woman
First-year students: 2
Mean scores: MS: GRE n/r, GPA 10.7 (out of 12)
Percentage of graduates employed in industry: 100

FACULTY:
Robert Biddle, PhD 1986, U Canterbury; software design, design process
Gitte Lindgaard, PhD 1991, Monash U; HCI, experimental psychology
Avi Parush, PhD 1984, McGill U; human factors and ergonomics, HCI, cognitive psychology, experimental psychology
Brian Tansley, PhD 1977, U Rochester; visual and auditory information processing