PROGRAM BACKGROUND

Title of program

Human Factors

Year human factors/ergonomics program was established

1963

Accredited by HFES?

No

Contact person for more information, including applications

Michael Granaas, University of South Dakota,
414 E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069-2390;
605/658-3700; Michael.Granaas@usd.edu  

Catalog (free)

Graduate School, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069-2390

Academic calendar

Semester

Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered

MA, PhD

Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program

Our Ph.D. program trains PhD-level professionals to serve as human factors/human engineering specialists in industry, government, the military, and academia. Apprenticeship-style training combines classroom instruction in core areas of human factors with individualized development of competency in research and problem solving.

Number of degrees granted during last 3 years

MA 3, PhD 3 

Can students attend part-time?

No, for first year

Are required courses offered through distance learning?

No

Does the university have an HFES student chapter?

APPLICATION PROCESS

Application deadline

Priority Deadline: December 31; Final Deadline: On a space available basis, four weeks before semester begins.

Application fees

$35

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Minimum requirements

GPA: 3.0

GRE: Waived for Fall 2022 admissions
Recommended: introductory psychology, experimental psychology, statistics, calculus, computer programming. 

Importance of other criteria as admission factors

Research: medium

Work experience: medium

Letters: high

Interview: medium

Tuition and fees

Resident: With assistantship $236 per credit hour; without assistantship $396 per credit hour (2021-2022)

Nonresident:With assistantship $270 per credit hour; without assistantship $710 per credit hour. (2021-2022)

ADMISSIONS

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

9

Number of students accepted into the program last year

5

Number of students entering the program last year

3

Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years

3–5

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance

100%

Amount received per year

$10,000

Types of assistance available

Reduced tuition for RA and TA positions

When should students apply for financial assistance?

With application

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

MA and PhD

Number of units required

MA: 30

PhD: 54 units

Exams required

MA: oral defense thesis

PhD: 12 hours written exam, oral defense dissertation

Language requirements

None

Research required

MA: thesis research 

PhD: dissertation research

Practical experience required

MA: no

PhD: internship recommended

Typical number of years required to obtain degree

MA: 2

PhD: 2–3

Is there a non-thesis option?

No

CURRICULUM

Required courses (units)

Seminar in Sensation and Perception (3),  Learning, Memory, and Cognition (3), Research Design and Statistics I and II (6), Master's Thesis Research (6), Human Performance (3), Human Engineering (3), Seminar in Human Factors Psychology (3), Methods and Instrumentation (3), Multivariate Statistics (3), Doctoral Dissertation Research (12–18)

Program specific courses are offered once every two years.

Electives (units)

All 3 credits: Cognitive Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Physiological Psychology, Psychology of Aging, Psychology of Safety, Industrial Psychology, Artificial Intelligence, Human Factors in Computer Systems, Psychoacoustics, Psychological Tests and Measurement, Seminar in Human Engineering, Seminar in Human Factors Research, Seminar in Statistical Topics (may be repeated).

Number of courses outside department that are required

Not required, but 6 credit hours (typically 2 courses) advised.

Number of courses outside department that are recommended

2

Average or typical class size in a required course

4-15

RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES

Research and support facilities available to students in the program: 

Information maintenance across time and in the face of interfering tasks, processes involved in creating stable working memory representations, virtual environments for education, expert performance and deliberate practice, training activities for older adults, neuro-correlates of mental workload, acoustic warning signals.

Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
Opportunities are available both as lab and lecture instructors.

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

Driving safety, aging and ergonomics, visibility and glare, keypad design, flashing lights on emergency vehicles, VDT data layouts, 3D terrain displays for aircraft, geographical knowledge and retrieval, decision making and assessments of risk, acoustic warning signals, analysis of highway accidents in construction and work zones.

STUDENT STATISTICS

Current number of active students in program, by gender

11 men, 6 women

Current number of first-year students in program

3

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

GRE 1100 v + q, GPA 3.40

FACULTY

Jan Berkhout, PhD 1962, U. Chicago; vision, safety, psychomotor performance

Michael M. Granaas, PhD 1986, U. Kansas;  Virtual Environments, Quantitative Methods 

Doug Peterson, PhD 1998, Kansas State U.; Usability and User Experience, Aviation Psychology, Neuro-Ergonomics

Timothy Ricker, PhD 2013, University of Missouri; Working Memory, Attention, Vision, Multitasking

JongSung Yoon, PhD 2015, Florida State U; Development and Neural Mechanism of Expertise, Cognitive Aging, Human Factors and Older Adults, Protocol Analysis.