UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Madison, Wisconsin
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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BACKGROUND:
Title: Human Factors and Ergonomics Graduate Program (MS, PhD)
Est: 1970
Semester
Granted last 3 years:
Part-time: yes
Distance learning available: no
HFES student chapter: yes
Program: The three specialty areas are (a) Sociotechnical system--organizational issues such as management approaches, job design, participative problem solving, job stress, job satisfaction, performance effectiveness, product quality, and quality of working life are addressed by engineers specializing in sociotechnical methods in system design. (b) Ergonomics--the study of the principles of work. Ergonomists are concerned with the complex physical relationships between people, machines, job demands, and work methods. (c) Occupational and environmental safety and health--occupational safety and health engineers study accident causation, epidemiology, statistical modeling of injuries, analysis of health records, injury prevention, and legal aspects of occupational safety.
Contact: Pam Peterson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1513 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706; 608/263-3955; prpeters@engr.wisc.edu.
Catalog: (free) Graduate Admissions, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 228 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Dr., Madison, WI 53706; http://www.wisc.edu/grad, http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ie.

APPLICATION:
Deadlines: 4/1 (fall), 10/1 (spring)
Fee: $45; http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ie/prospective/grad/admission.html

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
GPA: 3.0
GRE: v + q + a required for all except UW engineering graduates
Other: Bachelor's in industrial engineering or equivalent required; computer programming; introductory statistics, IE course outside of human factors (equivalent coursework is acceptable on a case-by-case basis)
Research: medium
Work experience: medium
Letters: medium
Interview: low

ADMISSIONS:
Students applying last year: n/a
Accepted: n/a
Entered program:
Openings/year: n/a

TUITION AND FEES:
Resident: $4592/semester
Nonresident: $12227/semester http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/fees_tuition/tuition.php

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
% receiving: financial assistance is very limited
Available:
Apply: with application

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
MS: 30 units, project research, no exams, languages, or practical experience, 2 years
Nonthesis option: yes
PhD: 30 units beyond master's, qualifying and preliminary exams, oral thesis defense, dissertation, 6 seminar/special topics courses, 3 years

CURRICULUM:
Required courses (credits): At least one sociotechnical systems course, one ergonomics course and one safety course (9); Tools and Methods (6)
Electives: At least 9 credits in one of three specializations: sociotechnical systems, ergonomics, or safety. http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ie/prospective/grad/programs/human.html
Required courses outside department: 0
Offered:
Class size: 15-30

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES:
Research facilities:
Laboratories

• Sociotechnical Engineering Research Laboratory (Carayon): The research conducted in the Sociotechnical Engineering Laboratory is concerned with the design and improvement of work systems in various industries to deal with a range of human factors and quality issues.
• MacroErgonomics Safety and Health Laboratory (Karsh): Research in this lab is focused on macroergonomics and occupational safety and health in a variety of settings.
• Cognitive Systems Laboratory (Lee): Research in the lab applies a cognitive engineering approach to design technology to support decision making and attention management.
• Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (Montague): Research in the HCI lab explores the design and integration of technologies in a variety of sociotechnical systems, including healthcare.
• Naturalistic Decision Making and Simulation Laboratory (Wiegmann). Research in dynamic decision-making and team cognition in both real-world and simulated environments including aviation and healthcare.
• Occupational Ergonomics and Biomechanics Laboratory (Radwin, Sesto): Research in this lab focuses on health aspects of physical stress in the workplace.
• Office Automation Laboratory (Smith): Activities in this laboratory are aimed at determining optimal applications for office technologies (computer systems, workstations, environmental conditions, software) emphasizing human factors considerations.

• Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement (CQPI): To rise to the challenge of the international quality revolution, the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement (CQPI) was founded in October of 1985 by Professor George E. P. Box and the late Professor William G. Hunter. Since its inception, CQPI has been at the forefront of the development of new techniques for improving the quality of products and processes. Today the Center is also at the forefront of methods aimed at improving the quality of work processes, quality of working life, and quality of healthcare. Areas of expertise are quality engineering, quality management, quality improvement in health care, safety applications and research, and quality of working life, human factors, and ergonomics.
• Trace Research and Development Center: Founded in 1971, Trace has been a pioneer in the field of technology and disability. Trace Center Research focuses on ways to make standard information technologies and telecommunications systems more accessible and usable by people with disabilities and those who are older.

Teaching: Grad students may serve as TAs for introductory and advanced HF courses and labs. PhD students can instruct undergrad courses.
Current research: Technological and organizational change; macroergonomics; naturalistic decision making in driving, aviation, construction and health care; computer supported cooperative work; organizational and human factors in quality and productivity improvement; computer technologies for people with disabilities or age-related functional limitations; effects of advanced office conditions on stress levels; patient safety; causes and prevention of CTDs.

STUDENT STATISTICS:
Active:
First-year students:
Mean scores:

FACULTY:
Patricia Flatley Brennan, PhD 1986, U Wisconsin-Madison; health informatics, community health, information systems, computer-mediated clinical practice, health services research.
Pascale Carayon, PhD 1988, U Wisconsin-Madison; HF, sociotechnical systems, job and organizational design, management of technological and organizational change, quality improvement.
David H. Gustafson, PhD 1966, U Michigan; computer-based decision aids.
Ben-Tzion Karsh, PhD 1999, U Wisconsin-Madison; patient safety, technology implementation, health care quality improvement, musculoskeletal disorders.
John D. Lee, PhD 1992, U of Illinois; cognitive engineering, interface design automation reliance, telemedicine, driver distraction and technology-mediated attention.
Enid Montague, PhD 2008, Virginia Tech; human-computer interaction, health systems, construction safety, trust, CSCW, macroergonomics, design research, cultural ergonomics.
Robert G. Radwin, PhD 1986, U Michigan; CTD, industrial ergonomics, biomedical engineering.
Mary E. Sesto, PhD 2003, U Wisconsin-Madison; industrial ergonomics, work disability, rehabilitation, macroergonomics.
Michael J. Smith, PhD 1973, U Wisconsin-Madison; occupational safety, job-related stress, systems engineering.
Gregg C. Vanderheiden, PhD 1984, U Wisconsin-Madison; HCI, design for disability and aging.
Douglas A. Wiegmann, PhD 1992, Texas Christian U; system safety, human error analysis, aviation, health care
David R. Zimmerman, PhD 1975, U Wisconsin-Madison; health systems.

[Updated January 2010]