Location: Rochester, New York
Department: Department of Psychology
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PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Title of program
Experimental Psychology (MS), Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology
Year human factors/ergonomics program was established
2006 as Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology. The program name was changed to Experimental Psychology and the Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology established in 2013.
Accredited by HFES?
No
Contact person for more information, including applications
Esa M. Rantanen, PhD, CPE, Department of Psychology, 01-2353 Eastman Bldg., Rochester Institute of Technology, 18 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623, 585/475-4412, fax 585/475-6715, esa.rantanen@rit.edu
Catalog
http://www.rit.edu/cla/psychology/msaep/
studenthandbook.html
Academic calendar
Semester
Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered
MS and Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology
Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program
The Master of Science (MS) program in Experimental Psychology is a broad and flexible program that provides students for a solid stepping-stone into careers or continuing education in diverse areas of psychology and human factors/ergonomics. The program has two tracks, Experimental Psychology and Engineering Psychology. Students opting for the Engineering Psychology track will also receive an Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology in addition to their MS degree in Experimental Psychology, provided they meet the Advanced Certificate requirements. Faculty from the Department of Psychology, the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering and the Department of Information Technology all contribute to the teaching of specialty courses in the program. The mission of RIT is to provide technology-based educational programs and to vigorously pursue emerging careers by developing new programs in response to changing technology. This program provides a foundation for further advanced academic study in Engineering Psychology, Human Factors/Ergonomics, or Experimental Psychology. The Advanced Certificate in Engineering Psychology is a post-baccalaureate certificate that provides the students with core knowledge in the key areas of engineering psychology (3 required courses), as well as an opportunity to study particular relevant topics in greater depth through electives (2 open electives). An advanced certificate provides students a formal acknowledgment of their knowledge in engineering psychology and credentials for seeking a career in the human factors/ergonomics field. Teaching and research assistantships are available.
Number of degrees granted during last 3 years
7
Can students attend part-time?
Yes
Are required courses offered through distance learning?
No
Does the university have an HFES student chapter?
No
APPLICATION PROCESS
Application deadlines:
February 15 (priority deadline) with rolling admissions
Application fee
$65 for applicants other than RIT alumni and current students within four quarters of completing another RIT program
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Minimum requirements
Minimum requirements
GPA: 3.0
GRE: NOT Required
Other: Applicants are expected to have at least 15 semester credit hours of course work in undergraduate psychology or related field (e.g., engineering, computer science, information technology), including one course in experimental psychology and another in statistics; in addition, applicants should have a minimum GPA of 3.0 for undergraduate work, two letters of reference from professors or supervisors, a biographical statement describing the applicant's experience and goals regarding the program, and completed application for graduate admission to RIT. Students should identify if they are applying for the thesis option or capstone option of the program in their personal statement. If students are interested in the thesis option, they must identify one, or more, faculty members to serve as their thesis advisor. For a list of our faculty members, and their programs of research, see: https://www.rit.edu/liberalarts/psychology-research-areas
Importance of other criteria as admission factors
Research: high
Work experience: A biographical statement describing the applicant's experience and goals regarding the program is required.
Letters: high (minimum of two required)
Interview: high
Tuition and fees
Full time: $28,442/semester
Part time: $2,370/credit hour
ADMISSIONS
Number of students applying to the human factors/ergonomics program last year
20
Number of students accepted into the program last year
10
Number of students entering the program last year
7
Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years
15
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance
100%
Amount received per year
Varies (30% tuition scholarship on average)
Types of assistance available
Teaching and research assistantships
When should students apply for financial assistance?
With application
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Graduate degrees offered
MS
Number of units required
The program consists of a minimum of 30 semester credits, which include experimental psychology core courses, required engineering psychology courses, two electives, and the completion of a thesis.
Research required
Thesis
Is there a non-thesis option?
Yes
CURRICULUM
Required courses (units)
Required experimental core courses: Graduate Statistics (3), Graduate Research Methods (3), Graduate Seminar (0), Thesis Proposal (3) (thesis option), Thesis (3) (thesis option), Graduate Psychology Capstone (3) (capstone option)
Required engineering psychology courses: Graduate Cognition (3), Graduate Engineering Psychology (3), Graduate Perception (3)
Electives (units)
Graduate Biopsychology (3), Graduate Developmental Psychology (3), Graduate Social Psychology (3), Advanced Graduate Statistics (3), Biomechanics (3), Systems Safety Engineering (3), Foundations of Human-Computer Interaction (3), Information and Interaction Design (3), Usability Testing (3), Topics in HCI for Biomedical Informatics (3), Agent-Based and Cognitive Modeling (3), User-Centered Design Methods (3), Collaboration, Technology, and the Human Experience (3), Natural Language Processing I (3), Natural Language Processing II (3), Graduate Speech Processing (3), Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (3), Advanced Research in Psychology (3)
Number of courses outside department that are required
2
Number of courses outside department that are recommended
2
Average or typical class size in a required course
10
RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
Research and support facilities available to students in the program:
Psychology lab spaces for testing individuals and groups up to 20; a variety of visual-motor testing devices, color vision tests, depth perception tests etc. IE Human Performance Lab with electromyography and electrogoniometry instruments, energy expenditure cart, and a work simulator for measurement of human strength. IT multimedia lab, sound recording studio, usability testing lab, and eye tracking lab. RIT has a strategic alliance with the Rochester General Health System that provides access to the medical community.
Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
Mentoring (of undergraduate students) appointments available
Current research activities and projects being carried out by program faculty and/or students:
Temporal awareness, visual multiple identity tracking, human error and reliability in health care
STUDENT STATISTICS
Current number of active students in program
11
Current number of first-year students in program
7
FACULTY
Reynold Bailey, PhD Washington University in St. Louis: computer graphics, applied perception in graphics and visualization
Suzanne Bamonto, Associate Professor, PhD University of Oregon: Curriculum based measurement and academic outcomes
Joseph Baschnagel, Associate Professor, PhD University at Buffalo: Attention, Smoking Behavior, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Psychophysiological Measurement
Kirsten Condry, Associate Professor, PhD University of Minnesota: Child Development, Perceptual & Cognitive Development, Media Influences on Children
Caroline DeLong, Professor. PhD University of Hawaii: Human & Animal Cognition, Perception, Animal Bioacoustics
Matthew Dye, Professor, PhD University of Southhampton: Brain reorganization in the face of altered sensory input, asking what happens with visual and multi-sensory processing when auditory input is missing
John Edlund, Professor, PhD, Northern Illinois University: Evolutionary, Social, & Forensic Psychology
Allison Fitch, Assistant Professor, PhD University of Massachusetts: Developmental cognitive neuroscience with a focus on the interrelationships between the developing visual cognitive system and language acquisition
Stephanie Godleski, Associate Professor, PhD University of Buffalo: Clinical and developmental psychology with a focus on development pathways to risk and resilience
Anne Haake, PhD 1985, University of South Carolina; developmental biology, biomedical informatics and image retrieval, human-centered, adaptive computing cognitive models of perceptual expertise, multimodal user interfaces
Dustin Haraden, Assistant Professor: Investigates developmental psychopathology focusing on sleep and circadian rhythms as risk factors for psychopathology in youth
Andrew Herbert, Professor, PhD 1996, University of Western Ontario: Perception, Cognitive Neuroscience
Rebecca Houston, Associate Professor, PhD University of New Orleans: Psychophysiological and neuropsychological underpinnings of impulsivity and aggression in the context of substance abuse risk and treatment
Matthew Marshall, PhD 2002, University of Michigan: Industrial Engineering, human factors/ergonomics, upper extremity biomechanics
Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm, Professor, PhD 2008, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, computational linguistics, linguistics, human-computer interaction involving language, knowledge inference in natural language, subjectivity and affect, (multimodal) semantics, language and cognition
Marjorie Prokosch, Assistant Professor, PhD Texas Christian University: Studies motivated social cognition and the manner in which aspects of our environment impact perceptions, attitudes, and decision-making
Esa Rantanen, Associate Professor, PhD Pennsylvania State University: Human Factors in Complex Systems, Human Performance Measurement & Modeling, Mental Workload, Decision Making, Human Error & Reliability
Lilia Rissman, Assistant Professor, PhD John Hopkins University: Investigates how cross-linguistic diversity reflects cultural and cognitive diversity
Lindsay Schenkel, Associate Professor, PhD University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Developmental Psychopathology, Serious Mental Illness, Social Cognition
Audrey Smerbeck, Associate Professor, PhD University at Buffalo: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Testing & Psychometrics
Tina Sutton, Associate Professor, PhD University at Albany: Psychology of Language, Cognition & Emotion, Emotion Word Representation Within & Across Languages, Hemispheric Specialization
[Updated February 2024]