Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Department: Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE)
Quick links:
Directory of Graduate Programs
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Title of program:
Masters's and Ph.D. programs in Industrial and Systems Engineering
Year human factors/ergonomics
program was established:
Accredited by HFES?
Yes- Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
Department sponsoring program
Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE)
Contact person for more information, including applications:
Karen B. Chen
Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering North Carolina State University
Fitts-Woolard Hall
915 Partners Way
Raleigh, NC 27695
kbchen2@ncsu.edu
Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered:
Master of Industrial Engineering, Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering
Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the programs:
Program emphasis is on cognitive engineering/HF in systems design, industrial ergonomics/biomechanics, and occupational safety and health. Students gain breadth of knowledge of physical ergonomics, understanding of approaches to usability evaluation and interface design for human-machine systems, and methods for recognition, evaluation and control of safety hazards in complex task environments. Goal is broad preparation. Courses emphasize contemporary theory, concepts and principles; observational methodologies and research techniques; and systems approach to analysis, design and modeling. Additional courses may be taken in variety of fields, including biomedical engineering, computer science, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, psychology, and public health. (Several courses through ISE program are cross-listed with Psychology.) For superior students, direct-track PhD program exists (MS degree must be completed along the way).
Number of degrees granted during last 3 years:
MIE (focus on human factors): 2
MS IE (focus on human factors): 1
PhD IE (focus on human factors): 6
Can students attend part-time?
Are required courses offered through distance learning?
Yes, Human Factors in Systems Design, Occupational Safety Engineering, Occupational Biomechanics, Systems Safety Engineering
Distance degree in ISE is currently offered.
Are classes offered during summer
Are classes offered at night?
No, but distant learning (remote) students may watch lecture recordings asynchronously.
Does the university have an HFES student chapter?
APPLICATION PROCESS
Application deadlines:
Financial awards: January 15
Fall: June 25 (U.S.); March 1 (International)
Spring: November 25 (U.S.); July 15 (International)
Application Fees:
$85 (U.S.)
$95 (International)
Are separate applications required for university and department?
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Minimum requirements
- Grade point average in previous academic programs: 3.0/4.0
- GRE Verbal: 150 (out of 170)
- GRE Quantitative: 153 (out of 170)
- GRE Analytical: 3.0
- Other: TOEFL 80 (iBT), IELTS 6.5 (overall band), 2 years calculus (including matrix/linear algebra), 1 year statistics
Undergrad degrees, backgrounds, or course work required or recommended for admission:
- Undergraduate major in engineering, computer science, psychology with relevant coursework or related field.
Importance of other criteria as admission factors:
- Previous research activity: medium
- Relevant work experience: medium
- Extracurricular activities: medium
- Letters of recommendation: high
- Personal interview: medium (if conducted)
Tuition and fees
NC Resident: $4918.5 tuition (9+ credits) and $1,231.25 fees/semester (as of Spring 2025)
Nonresident: $15,305 (9+ credits) and $1,231.25 fees/semester (as of Spring 2025)
ADMISSIONS
Number of students applying to the human factors/ergonomics program last year:
Number of students accepted into the program last year:
Number of students entering the program last year:
Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years:
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance:
Amount received per year (minimum – typical – maximum):
Varies depending on many factors such as the type of support (Fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships)
Types of assistance available:
Teaching assistantship (tuition covered)
Research assistantship (tuition covered)
Fellowships (tuition covered)
Traineeships (tuition covered)
When should students apply for financial assistance?
At the same time as submitting application for admission
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Number of units required:
Research required:
Thesis research (3–6 units)
Practical experience required:
Typical number of years required to obtain degree: 2
Is there a non-thesis option?
Number of units required:
Practical experience required:
Typical number of years required to obtain degree:
Is there a non-thesis option?
Number of units required:
Exams required:
Qualifying, oral defense of research proposal ("preliminary"), dissertation defense
Research required:
Dissertation research (at least 6 credits)
Practical experience required:
Typical number of years required to obtain degree:
3.5 years beyond MS to complete
Is there a non-thesis option?
CURRICULUM
Required Courses (units):
HF in Systems Design (3), Occupational Biomechanics (3), ISE Seminar (2), Human Performance Modeling (3), Experimental Statistics II (3)
Electives:
Occupational Safety Engineering (3), Human-Computer Interaction (3), Systems Safety Engineering (3), Human Information Processing (3), Research Practicum in Ergonomics (3), Advanced Biomechanics (3), Human-Virtual Reality Interactions (3), Human factors and AI (3)
Number of courses outside department that are required:
12 credit hours of courses for PhD, no requirements for MS.
Number of courses outside department that are recommended:
at least 12 credit hours for PhD
Average or typical class size in a required course:
RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
Research and support facilities available to students in the program: The ISE Human Factors and Ergonomics area group possesses virtual and augmented reality research instrumentation. It includes three sets of augmented reality (AR) goggles (HoloLens 2, Microsoft, Redmond, WA). The AR glasses arewireless and portable. The combined resolution of the display is 1268×720 at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. It also includes several virtual reality head-mounted displays: Meta Quest 2 (1832 x 1920 resolution per eye, 60, 72, 90 Hz refresh rates supported), Meta Quest 3 (2064 x 2208 resolution per eye, 72Hz, 80Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz refresh rates supported), and HTC Vive (2160×1200 combined resolution, 90 Hz refresh rate, and 110 degrees field of view) which are portable devices. Lastly, a 4-sided Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE; C4 VisCube, Visbox, Saint Joseph, Illinois) is installed. It uses four active stereo projectors (F50, Barco, Kortrijk, Belgium) with a combined resolution of 1920x4800 for 4 sides combined. It is equipped with a controller and head tracking functionality. The ISE Human Factors and Ergonomics area group also houses two state-of-the-art motion tracking systems. The first one is a 14-camera passive optical motion tracking system (Motion Analysis, Santa Rosa, CA). This system can capture the 3D position of multiple reflective markers with a precision of 1 mm. The coverage area is 800 sq. ft. The sampling frequency is up to 500 Hz for capturing fast human motion. The associated control software is able to output all the marker 3D positions in real-time. The second one is a 12-camera active motion tracking system (NDI, Waterloo, Canada). This system uses active markers that emit a unique IR wave to ensure no marker confusion. The coverage area is approximately 400 sq.ft., but with the capacity for long-term motion tracking. As part of the a human factors consortium (HFC) among four departments (Industrial and Systems Engineering, Psychology, Civil Engineering, and Institute for Transportation Research and Education), the lab has access to the Forum8 (High Fidelity) Driving Simulator. This high-fidelity traffic simulator has a 6-degree-of-freedom hexapod configuration in its base to realistically simulate traffic conditions to subjects. In addition, the simulator will have a very large field of view up to 360 degrees around the subject. This allows for full submersion of the subject into the 4K simulated environment while also seeing a wider field of view that is often necessary at intersections, interchanges, or the vehicle cab.
Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:Teaching assistantshipsavailable at 0.5 or0.25 FTEwith assignment to largerundergraduate coursesand/or lab sections (Ergonomics, WorkDesign &Analysis). Advanced students may have opportunityto guest lecture in junior/senior-level ergonomicscourse.
Current research activities and projects being carried out by program faculty and/or students:
-empowering humans through AI-powered embodied training and learning
-advancing human-VR interfaces
-enabling the understanding of humans’ performances and behaviors
-biomechanics
-machine learning for posture recognition
-Predicting the intentions and behaviors of vulnerable road users to support social decisions of automated cars;
-Modeling human metacognition and dual-process decision-making to inform the development of cognitively inspired
AI systems;
-Optimizing adaptive XAI feedback based on scene complexity, human mental states, and human-AI cognition
discrepancies.
STUDENT STATISTICS
Current number of active students in program, by gender:
Current number of first-year students in program:
Based on current graduate students in the program, the mean score on admission tests and undergraduate GPA by degree being sought are:
- Mean GRE Verbal: 154
- Mean GRE Quantitative: 165
- Mean GRE Analytical: 3.5
- Mean undergraduate GPA: 3.45
- For international students, the average TOEFL: 110
Number of current HF/E postdocs:
Of the number of those graduating in the past three years, what percentage is known to have gained employment in:
- Academia: 4
- Industry: 8
- Government: 0
Faculty to Student Ratio:
FACULTY
Karen Chen, Ph.D.; human-computer interaction, extended reality, AI-powered virtual reality, extended reality worker ability augmentation
Renran Tian, Ph.D.; human-centered AI in transportation, cognitive ergonomics, Social Intelligence for AI Systems, Human-AI Teaming
Xu Xu, Ph.D.; biomechanics modeling, machine learning for occupational biomechanics.
[Updated May 2025]