UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Cincinnati, Ohio
Department of Psychology

To return to the contents page, click your browser's "Back" button.

BACKGROUND:
Title: Experimental Psychology/Human Factors (MA, PhD)
Joint program: With the Safety and Health Engineering Division of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Program in the College of Engineering. The two departments confer separate degrees but cooperate closely in education and research.
Est: 1981
Quarter
Granted last 3 years: MA 8, PhD 5
Part-time: no
Distance learning available: no
HFES student chapter: no
Program: Guided by a scientist-practitioner model. Training in the framework of general experimental psychology focuses on sensation/perception, perception/action, attention, cognition, motivation, information processing, human performance, stress, and HCI. Research skills are emphasized, and interdisciplinary work in industrial engineering is encouraged. Students have considerable opportunity to develop their own interests while receiving broad based HF training.
Contact: Joel S. Warm, Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0376; 513/556-5533; joel.warm@uc.edu.
Catalog: (free) University Dean for Research and Advanced Studies, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0627

APPLICATION:
Deadline: 1/7
Fee: $35

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
GPA: 3.0
GRE: 500 v, 500 q, 1000 v + q, 500 a
Other: TOEFL for foreign students; psychology or engineering bachelor's degree, 6 credits in statistics, 3 credits in research methods/experimental design. Learning/cognition, sensation/perception, motivation, computer programming, and research experience recommended.
Research: high
Work experience: high
Letters: high
Interview: medium

ADMISSIONS:
Students applying last year: 26
Accepted: 5
Openings/year: 5

TUITION AND FEES:
Resident: $2270/quarter
Nonresident: $4489/quarter

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
% receiving: 100
Amount: $12,179/$12,925
Available: fellowship, TA, RA, all tuition exempt
Apply: With application. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fellowships are available for U.S. citizens enrolled in the College of Engineering Safety and Health Engineering program.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
MA: 45 units, thesis defense, no languages or practical experience, 9 thesis research credits, 2-3 years
Nonthesis option: no
PhD: 135 units, qualifying exam and doctoral defense, no languages, 18 thesis research credits, internship recommended, 4-6 years

CURRICULUM:
Required courses (units): Foundation Courses Core Content (18; Biological Basis of Behavior, History and Philosophy of Psychology, Perception, Cognition and Learning, Personality and Development, Social Psychology); Methods Courses (9; Graduate Statistics, Experimental Design, Psychological Measurement), Human Factors Courses (27; HF Seminar, Advanced Perception; Performance-Stress; Learning-Cognition, Perception-Action Skills Learning)
Required courses outside department: 6
Recommended courses outside department: several
Offered: night, summer
Class size: 10

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES:
Research facilities: Equipment for perceptual/cognitive, physiological, biomechanical, driving simulation, and postural control studies. Facilities also available at the Medical Center and NIOSH Applied Psych and Ergonomics Branch. Students are eligible for research internships at the Armstrong HF Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The department participates in the Southwest Ohio HF and Ergonomics Consortium, which permits students to take courses and conduct research at Miami University and the University of Dayton.
Teaching: First-year students serve as TAs or lab instructors in undergraduate courses (e.g., research methods); advanced students offer their own courses in introductory psychology and in advanced specialties such as statistics, perception, and cognitive processes.
Current research: Internationally recognized for research on sustained attention (vigilance), attention and performance, driver behavior, stress, workload, and mood, and perception-action. Vigilance projects include studies of brain blood flow relations, intersensory interactions, training protocols, perceived mental workload, and task-induced stress. Work in perception-action focuses on postural control, perceptual-motor adaptation, haptic perception and proprioception, and motor coordination Other projects include studies in driver performance, the effects of stressors on performance and perceived mental workload, emotional intelligence and personality factors in performance, workload and stress in endoscopic surgery, applied cognition, pattern recognition, psychoacoustics, speech perception, adaptive automation and adaptive interfaces in aviation psychology, and acceleration-induced unconsciousness/performance deficits in pilots and teamwork in aviation control activities.

STUDENT STATISTICS:
Active: 7 men, 12 women
First-year students: 4
Mean scores: MA/PhD: GRE 1115 v+q, GPA 3.8

FACULTY:
William Ball, MD 1974 Tulane U; medical instrument development
Amit Bhattacharya, PhD 1975, U Kentucky; ergonomics
Peter Chiu, PhD 1997, Harvard U; virtual acoustics
Doran Christensen, DO 1975, College of Osteopathy, Medicine, and Surgery; occupational medicine
Kermit G. Davis, PhD, Ohio State U; ergonomics, industrial ergonomics, materials handling
William N. Dember, PhD 1955, U Michigan; perception/motivation
James Donovan, MD, Northwestern U; urologic surgery-endoscopic surgery
Krishnanath Gaitonde, MD 1993; Goa Medical College (India); urologic surgery-endoscopic surgery
Traci L. Galinsky, PhD 1991, U Cincinnati; perception/musculoskeletal fatigue
Ash Genaidy, PhD 1987, U Miami; occupational biomechanics/workplace design
Paula l. Grubb, PhD 1995, U Cincinnati; work-stress, human performance
Richard Honeck, PhD 1969, U Wisconsin; applied cognition
Ronald Huston, PhD 1962, U Pennsylvania; biomechanics
Gerald Matthews, PhD 1962, Cambridge U; driver behavior, human performance and stress
William R. Meyers, PhD 1963, Harvard U; evaluation research, urban psychology, HF in the design of cities
W. Todd Nelson, PhD 1996, U Cincinnati; HF engineering, usability, virtual reality
Wojin Park, PhD 2003, U Michigan; biomechanical and digital monitoring
Michael A. Riley, PhD 1999, U Connecticut; perceptual-motor adaptation, haptics, motor control
Steven Sauter, PhD 1975, U Wisconsin; stress/human factors
Donald Schumsky, PhD 1960, Tulane U; experimental design, learning, motor skills
Richard Shell, PhD 1970, U Illinois; work design
Kevin Shockley, PhD 2002, U Connecticut; haptics, motor coordination
Naomi Swanson, PhD 1989, U Wisconsin; vision/occupational stress
Eric Warm, MD 1993, U Cincinnati; internal medicine, medical error
Joel Warm , PhD 1966, U Alabama; sensation/perception, attention/performance, neuroergonomics, workload
Guy Van Orden, PhD 1984, UC San Diego; non-linear dynamics, applied cognition
Ernest Weiler, PhD 1969, U Louisville; psychoacoustics
Daniel D. Wheeler, PhD 1969, U Michigan; applied cognition

[Updated Winter 2007]