Resources

San Jose State University

Location: San Jose, California
Department: College of Engineering

Quick links:

 

Program Background

Admission Requirements

Financial Assistance

Curriculum

Student Statistics

Application Process

Admissions

Degree Requirements

Research/Teaching Opportunities

Faculty


Directory of Graduate Programs


 

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

 

Title of program

Human Factors/Ergonomics (MS) 

Joint program

With Industrial & Systems Engineering, Psychology, Industrial Design, and Kinesiology

Year human factors/ergonomics program was established

1993

Accredited by HFES?

Yes

Contact person for more information, including applications

Anil R. Kumar, Program Director, SJSU, ISE Dept, 1 Washington Sq., San Jose, CA 95192-00085; 408/924-7850; anil.kumar@sjsu.edu

Web site

http://www.sjsu.edu/hfe

Academic calendar

Semester

Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered

MS HFE and MS HFE (concentration in User Experience)

Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program

The interdisciplinary nature of HF/E is emphasized through a broad curriculum and diverse student backgrounds. Projects provide practical experience in local (Silicon Valley) high-tech manufacturing, research, and professional workplace settings. The MS HFE program emphasizes statistics and experimental design and basic human factors and ergonomics to maintain diversity, enrollment in courses with non-HF/E majors while the MS HFE  concentration provides students with competency in human computer interaction (UX) through their course work and culminating project. All students are required to complete the program core, elective courses, and a 4 unit culminating project or thesis Emphasis areas are suggested such as Cognitive Psychology, HCI/UX/UI, Ergonomics, or Human Performance, but students may select electives from across all offerings. Students often work part time or full time in paid internship programs offered by area information technology firms (mainly the Big Tech) or with area governmental laboratories (e.g., NASA Ames Research Center).

Number of degrees granted during last 3 years

MS 101

Can students attend part-time?

Yes

Are required courses at night?

Late afternoon and evening

Does the university have an HFES student chapter?

Yes 


 

APPLICATION PROCESS

 

Application deadline

February 1 (fall admissions only)

Application fee

$70 (nonrefundable and may not be transferred to another term).


 

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

 

Minimum requirements

GPA: 3.0 last 60 units 

GRE: Not required, but preferred 

Other: Three reference letters, personal statement, a TOEFL score of 90 or higher (for international students) is required to be considered for the program. 

Importance of other criteria as admission factors

Research: Medium 

Work experience: Medium 

Extracurricular activities: Low

Letters of recommendation: High

Interview: Not required

Tuition and fees

Check SJSU Web site for current fee structure: https://www.sjsu.edu/bursar/fees-due-dates/index.php


 

ADMISSIONS

 

Number of students applying to the human factors/ergonomics
program last year

246

Number of students accepted into the program last year

79

Number of students entering the program last year

79

Anticipated number of openings per year

80 per year


 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

 

Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance

30%

Amount received per year (minimum – typical – maximum)

$7,200 – $10,000 – $14,000 (depends on source and type of work) 

Types of assistance available

TA and RA (not tuition exempt) 

When should students apply for financial assistance?

Upon notification of acceptance


 

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

 

Graduate degrees offered

MS

Number of units required

30

Exams required

Oral defense of thesis

Language requirements

None

Research required

Thesis/project

Practical experience required

None

Typical number of years required to obtain degree

2–2.5 years

Is there a non-thesis option?

Yes (project)


 

CURRICULUM

 

Required courses (units)

HF Engineering (3), Design of Experiments (3), Human Factors Experiments (also meets writing requirement) (3), Engineering Psychology (3), Human Motor Development (3), HF Seminar (2), Thesis or culminating project (4)

Electives (units)

Three of the following or other approved courses: Human Computer Interaction (3), Advanced Interaction Design (3), Safety Engineering (3), Ethnographic Studies (3), HF in Design (two courses; 3 each), Usability Testing (3), Seminar in Cognition (3), Seminar in Perception (3); Medical Errors Reduction and Patient Safety Engineering (3)

Number of courses outside department that are required

2: Engineering Psychology (3), Human Motor Development (3)

Number of courses outside department that are recommended

4

Average or typical class size in a required course

30-40


 

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

 

Research and support facilities available to students in the program: 

Numerous lab available to students with different focus:

  1. The Human Factors/Ergonomics Lab which has the capability of supporting student research in the fields of ergonomics, workplace design, usability, and interface design. The lab is equipped with a state-of-the-art wireless EMG recording system, mobile and base mount eye trackers driven by Imotions software (includes affective modules), a driving simulator (270 degree), instruments to measure physiological and neurophysiological measures, electrically adjustable workstation, an Oculus Rift HMD, cameras, Wi‐Fi, and related support computers and software. The lab is being retrofitted to include capacity for in‐house user centered design studies, including multiple user studies, various healthcare settings, basic physical ergonomic research tasks, and various simulation facilities.
  2. The mission of the Behavior, Accessibility, and Technology (BAT) Lab is to develop next-generation human-machine systems that can assist and support humans with technology in a wide range of application domains and to enhance human performance and optimize human well-being. The areas of research include human-automation interaction, automated driving, aging and technology, human-machine interface and human behavior modeling.
  3. The Virtual Environments, Cognition, and Training Research (VECTR) Lab which gives students hands‐on experience with all aspects of the research process, with an emphasis on applied experimental research psychology.
  4. Memory, Learning, and Motivation (MLM) Lab which addresses research questions related to human behavior and cognition,
  5. Learning, Attention, Vision, and Application (LAVA) with focus on Human Factors, Visual Attention, Gamification, and Data Visualization.

Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
None

Current research activities and projects being carried out by program faculty and/or students:

  • Kumar:  Human-Machine Interaction design, PAPRS design, Trust Transfer across Mobility, Driver Situational Awareness, Remote Human Factors Validation
  • Huang: Human-automation Interaction, (semi)Autonomous Driving, Successful Aging, Multimodal Displays, Adaptive Automation
  • Schuster: Cognitive factors in cybersecurity, human performance implications of video game experience, human-robot interaction, individual and shared cognition in complex environments, training
  • Nathan-Roberts: affective design, sociotechnical systems, human factors in healthcare systems
  • Palmer: Visual Attention, Gamification, and Data Visualization
  • Andre: Display/control compatibility, medical device design and evaluation
  • Feria: Visual perception and attention

 

STUDENT STATISTICS

 

Current number of active students in program, by gender

15 men, 57 women

Current number of first-year students in program

79

Based on current graduate students in the program, the mean score on admission tests and undergraduate GPA by degree being sought are

GPA 3.3, GRE not required

 

FACULTY

 

Anthony Andre, PhD 1991, U. of Illinois; engineering psychology, display/control compatibility, medical device design

Cary Feria, PhD, 2004, UC Irvine; perception 

Gaojian Huang, PhD, human-automation interaction, (semi)autonomous driving, successful aging

Anil Kumar, PhD, 2007, Western Michigan U.; product design and development (medical devices), human factors and automation (autonomous vehicles)

Sean Laraway, PhD, 2003, Western Michigan U.; cognition, experimental design 

Yue (Lyla) Luo, PhD, 2023, U of Florida; Human Factors and Ergonomics, Injury Prevention, Aging Health, Human-Robot Collaboration, Human-Machine Interaction, Wearable Technology, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), Biomechanics, Motion Analysis, Data Analytics  
Abbas Moallem, PhD, U. of Paris; cybersecurity, human computer interaction

Dan Nathan-Roberts, PhD, 2012, U. of Michigan; ergonomics, home healthcare systems 

Evan Palmer, PhD, 2003, U. of Michigan; visual perception and attention, gamification and motivation, human factors in healthcare

Daniel Rosenberg, MS, Tufts U.; interaction design, user experience, visual design

David Schuster, PhD, 2013, U. of Central Florida; applied experimental and human factors psychology

Emily Wughalter, PhD, 1981, U. of Georgia; human performance and motor learning

 

 

[Updated Feb 2024]