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Home Education & Career ResourcesAcademic ProgramsGraduate Programs DirectoryUniversity of California, Berkeley Vision Science Graduate Program

University of California, Berkeley Vision Science Graduate Program

Location: Berkeley, California
Department: Vision Science Graduate Program

 

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

Vision Science Graduate Program

Year human factors/ergonomics program was established

1946

Accredited by HFES?

No

Contact person for more information, including applications

Alex Marquez, University of California, Berkeley, 380 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720;
(510) 643-6696 ; http://vision.berkeley.edu

Academic calendar

Semester

Gaduate degree offered

PhD

Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program

The PhD degree program prepares students for careers in vision science related teaching, academia, and industry. The program includes core course work in the first year on the fundamentals of the vision science, followed by 4-6 years of research training under  the guidance of a faculty member of the program. Areas of specialization include visual psychophysics, visual neurophysiology, ocular physiology, visual development, visuomotor mechanisms, and computational and machine vision. Areas related to human factors engineering include development of assisted visual technologies (e.g. augmented reality) and advances in visual display technologies. The program enthusiastically supports teaching and research on applied problems in vision science.

Number of degrees granted during last 3 years

PhD 21, MS 4

Can students attend part-time?

No

Are required courses offered during summer?

Research activities in summer

Does the university have an HFES student chapter?

No


APPLICATION PROCESS

Application deadlines

Application opens in September and closes in January 

Application fee

$135  (subject to change without notice)

 


ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Minimum requirements

GPA: 3.0

GRE: optional

Bachelors degree or equivalent preferably with strong STEM subjects and an emphasis on life-sciences.

Importance of other criteria as admission factors

Research: high

Work experience: medium 

Letters: high 

Interview: high

Tuition and fees

Resident: $6,132/semester 

Nonresident: $12,254/semester (subject to change without notice)


ADMISSIONS

Number of students applying to the program last year

Approx. 50

Number of students accepted into the program last year

10

Number of students entering the program last year

10

Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years

7


FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance

100%

Amount received per year (minimum – typical – maximum)

Graduate student stipends adhere to the published UAW-ratified levels

Types of assistance available

University fellowship, NIH predoctoral training grant support.

When should students apply for financial assistance?

With application


DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Graduate degrees offered

PhD

Number of units required

12 per semester

Exams required

Qualifying oral exam

Language requirements

English

Research required

Full-time culminating in a dissertation

Practical experience required

Prior research or laboratory experience is highly advantageous but not required.

Typical number of years required to obtain degree

PhD: 5

Is there a non-thesis option?

No


CURRICULUM

Required courses (units)

VS 260A Optical and Neural Limits to Vision (3)

VS260B Introduction to Ocular Biology (3)

VS260C Introduction to Visual Neuroscience (3)

VS260D Seeing In Time, Space and Color (3)

VS298 Oxyopia Seminars (1)

VS201B Student Evening Research Seminar (SERS) (2)

VS201A Survey of Laboratories (2)

VS230 Ethics (2)

VS375A/375B Teaching Methods (1)

VS299 Research (1-12)

Electives (units)
Number of courses outside department that are required

Statistics

Average or typical class size in a required course

7


RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

Research and support facilities available to students in the program:

Research facilities available at Berkeley to graduate students in vision science are unexcelled anywhere in the world. Federally supported research facilities include modern visual psychophysics laboratories plus computers. The optometry laboratory, housing 6,000 volumes and subscribing to 200 periodicals, is part of the larger University of California library, one of the finest in the world.

Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
All students in the PhD program are required to teach a minimum of 2 semesters. Students can teach up to 8 semesters if they need support. Typically, these graduate student teaching appointments are to instruct the laboratory sections involved in the first 2 years of the optometry curriculum.

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

Aging and visual performance, ocular motility constraints, visual requirements for vehicle guidance, data compression for computer graphics, detection and identification of warning signals, special requirements related to ocular diseases.


STUDENT STATISTICS

Current number of active students in program, by gender

15  men, 25  women

Current number of first-year students in program

10

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

PhD: GRE 1353 v + q, GPA 3.5


FACULTY

https://vision.berkeley.edu/faculty/

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