Location: Berkeley, California
Department: Vision Science Graduate Program
Quick links:
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Title of program
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Vision Science Graduate Program
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Year human factors/ergonomics program was established
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1946
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Accredited by HFES?
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No
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Contact person for more information, including applications
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Alex Marquez, University of California, Berkeley, 380 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720;
(510) 643-6696 ; http://vision.berkeley.edu
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Academic calendar
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Semester
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Gaduate degree offered
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PhD
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Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program
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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.
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Number of degrees granted during last 3 years
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PhD 21, MS 4
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Can students attend part-time?
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No
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Are required courses offered during summer?
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Research activities in summer
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Does the university have an HFES student chapter?
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No
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Application deadlines
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Application opens in September and closes in January
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Application fee
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$135 (subject to change without notice)
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Minimum requirements
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GPA: 3.0
GRE: optional
Bachelors degree or equivalent preferably with strong STEM subjects and an emphasis on life-sciences.
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Importance of other criteria as admission factors
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Research: high
Work experience: medium
Letters: high
Interview: high
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Tuition and fees
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Resident: $6,132/semester
Nonresident: $12,254/semester (subject to change without notice)
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Number of students applying to the program last year
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Approx. 50
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Number of students accepted into the program last year
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10
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Number of students entering the program last year
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10
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Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years
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7
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Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance
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100%
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Amount received per year (minimum – typical – maximum)
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Graduate student stipends adhere to the published UAW-ratified levels
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Types of assistance available
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University fellowship, NIH predoctoral training grant support.
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When should students apply for financial assistance?
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With application
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Graduate degrees offered
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PhD
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Number of units required
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12 per semester
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Exams required
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Qualifying oral exam
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Language requirements
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English
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Research required
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Full-time culminating in a dissertation
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Practical experience required
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Prior research or laboratory experience is highly advantageous but not required.
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Typical number of years required to obtain degree
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PhD: 5
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Is there a non-thesis option?
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No
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Required courses (units)
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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)
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Electives (units)
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Number of courses outside department that are required
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Statistics
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Average or typical class size in a required course
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7
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RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Current number of active students in program, by gender
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15 men, 25 women
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Current number of first-year students in program
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10
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Based on current graduate students in the program,
the mean score on admission tests and undergraduate
GPA by degree being sought are
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PhD: GRE 1353 v + q, GPA 3.5
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https://vision.berkeley.edu/faculty/