PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Title of program:
Experimental Psychology (MS, PhD) with specialized courses and research opportunities in applied cognitive and engineering psychology
Year human factors/ergonomics program was established:
Contact person for more information, including applications:
Melody Carswell
University of Kentucky
Dept. of Psychology
125 Kastle Hall
Lexington, KY 40506-0044
606/257-4468;
cmcars00@gmail.com
Catalog (free):
University of Kentucky Graduate School
351 Patterson Office Tower
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered:
Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program:
The HF curriculum is part of an integrative experimental psychology program. Although students are expected to develop a broad understanding of a variety of experimental approaches, the HF curriculum allows students to gain depth in several aspects of applied cognitive psychology relevant to product, system, and information design. Faculty interests focus on memory and comprehension of textual, graphical, geographical, and televised information. Opportunities exist for research involving special user populations, including children and older adults.
Number of degrees granted during last 3 years:
Can students attend part-time?
Are required courses offered at night?
Does the university have an HFES student chapter?
APPLICATION PROCESS
Are separate applications required for university and department?
Application fees:
- $30 domestic
- $35 international
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Minimum requirements:
- GPA: 3.0
- GRE: 1500 v + q + a
Other: Undergraduate degree in psychology or undergraduate coursework including cognitive processes, learning, and sensation/perception required. Course in statistics required.
Importance of other criteria as admission factors:
- Research: high
- Work experience: medium
- Letters: high
- Interview: high
Tuition and fees:
- Resident: $2,037.25/semester
- Nonresident: $5,647.25/semester
ADMISSIONS
Number of students applying to the human factors/ergonomics program last year:
Number of students accepted into the program last year:
Number of students entering the program last year:
Anticipated number of openings per year for the next two years:
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance:
Amount received per year (minimum – typical – maximum):
$9,000 – $9,275 – $10,000
Types of assistance available:
Fellowships, TA tuition exempt; RA tuition exemption varies
When should students apply for financial assistance?
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Graduate degrees offered:
PhD: (MA/MS completed as part of requirements for PhD)
Number of units required:
Number of units required is determined by student's advisory committee.
Exams required:
Oral defense of MA/MS thesis, written and oral qualifying examination prior to beginning PhD thesis, and oral defense of PhD thesis required
Research required:
Continuous research activity expected
Practical experience required:
Highly recommended but not required
Typical number of years required to obtain degree:
6, including practical experience
Is there a non-thesis option?
CURRICULUM
Required courses (units):
Foundations of Inferential Statistics (3), Design and Analysis of Experiments (3), choice of three proseminars from the following list (3 each): Cognitive Processes, Sensation and Perception, Learning Development, Behavioral Neuroscience
Electives (units):
Applied Cognitive Psychology: Human Factors (3), Text Comprehension (3), Ergonomics and Work Hardening (3), Human Error (3), Multimedia Research and Design (3)
Number of courses outside department that are required:
Determined by student's advisory committee
Number of courses outside department that are recommended:
Average or typical class size in a required course:
RESEARCH/TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
Research and support facilities available to students in the program:
Kastle Hall includes research and office space for students in all graduate psychology programs. Facilities include several research suites with rooms for individual and group testing, videotaping and editing facilities, and a dedicated graduate student computer lab.
Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
Teaching assistantships are readily available and frequently involve responsibility for introductory and advanced laboratories. Many students take special courses on college teaching. Advanced students with strong teaching records may be awarded independent teaching assignments.
Current research activities and projects being carried out by program faculty and/or students:
Current topics include visualization support for decision making, participatory design with older users, visual search and error monitoring, mental workload assessments during television viewing, individual differences in graph comprehension strategies, design of text signals for enhanced comprehension and recall, and relationships between interface preference and human-system performance.
STUDENT STATISTICS
Current number of active students in program, by gender:
Current number of first-year students in program:
Based on current graduate students in the program, the mean score on admission tests and undergraduate GPA by degree being sought are:
FACULTY:
Melody Carswell, PhD 1988, U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign; visual display design, graph comprehension and communication, interface preference
Jonathan M. Golding, PhD 1986, U. Denver; question answering, memory, reading
Elizabeth P. Lorch, PhD 1981, U. Massachusetts; television viewing, attention, reading
Robert F. Lorch,PhD 1980, U. Massachusetts; reading, memory, statistics