Contact person for more information, including applications:
Andrew Dillon, Dean, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78701; 512/471-3821; adillon@school.utexas.edu
Human factors/ergonomics graduate degrees offered:
Goals, objectives, and emphasis of the program:
The program leads to an MSIS (Master's of Science in Information Studies) or a PhD. A master's student with an interest in cognitive human factors can take a series of courses in usability, information architecture, digital media design, research methods, and human information processing. Master's students may also focus on other areas of information studies from a human perspective. Doctoral students pursue dissertation research in any area of human information processing. The school has 23 faculty, approx. 300 master's candidates and approx. 30 doctoral students.
Number of degrees granted during last 3 years:
MSIS 294, PhD 11 (AY 2006–2009)
Can students attend part-time?
Are required courses offered through distance learning?
Are required courses offered during summer?
Does the university have an HFES student chapter?
Not currently but would start if it was HFES approved
APPLICATION PROCESS
Application deadlines:
- MSIS: January 15 (fall), September 1 (spring)
- PhD: December 15
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Minimum requirements:
- The school employs a holistic approach to admissions, with no one variable making or breaking an applicant's chances of admission. GRE, GPA, and previous education are all considered, as are letters of reference and a student statement of interest. Median GRE score (Q+A) for successful applicants is 1240.
- Other: Doctoral students are not required to hold a master's degree, though most do before admission.
Importance of other criteria as admission factors:
- Research experience: low importance as methods courses are required
- Research interest: high importance for doctoral students
- Work experience: low
- Letters: high
- Interview: medium
- Personal statement: high
Tuition and fees
- Resident: $4,561
- Nonresident: $7,812
ADMISSIONS
Number of students applying to the human factors/ergonomics program last year:
Number of students accepted into the program last year:
Anticipated number of openings per year:
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Percentage of students in program receiving financial assistance:
Amount received per year:
Types of assistance available:
Tuition waiver, fellowship, TA, RA
When should students apply for financial assistance?
With application and annually/every semester thereafter
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:
Graduate degrees offered:
Number of units required:
- MSIS: 40 and master's thesis or master's report or capstone project
- PhD: 90
Exams required:
- MSIS: no
- PhD: qualifying exam and qualifying paper/dissertation
Practical experience required:
Typical number of years required to obtain degree:
Is there a non-thesis option?
CURRICULUM
Required courses (units):
- MSIS: 12 credit core sequence required: Understanding Users, Organizing Information, Research Methods and Statistics, Management of Information, plus Capstone Experience. Thesis or project based for 3-6 credits.
- PhD: Two-course sequence in Doctoral Research and Theory and four courses (University wide) in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Number of courses outside department that are required:
0, though 9 hours possible in MSIS. 9 hours are required for PhD.
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:
The iSchool has an Information eXperience Lab, with one-way mirror and hardware and software to facilitate local and remote usability testing and research on human-computer interaction and other human acquisition and sharing of information resources. Other labs and research spaces are available in the School's facilities. A digital media lab is available for development projects; 40 seat computer classroom and lab; connections with local industries (e.g., sponsorship of research by IBM, Vignette, AT&T, etc.) provide opportunities for research in applied settings.
Teaching opportunities available to students in the program:
Most students in the program periodically serve as teaching assistants or assistant instructors for undergraduate or graduate courses. Doctoral students are invited to take a course in Supervised Teaching in Information Studies.
STUDENT STATISTICS
Current number of active students in program, by gender:
- MSIS: 56 men, 193 women
- PhD: 12 men, 19 women
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:
Based on current graduate students in the program, the mean score on admission tests and undergraduate GPA by degree being sought are:
- MSIS: GRE 1238
- PhD: GRE 1255
FACULTY
Andrew Dillon, Dean, PhD 1991, Loughborough University of Technology, UK; human factors psychology
Diane Bailey, Assistant Professor, PhD 1994, UC Berkeley; industrial engineering
Randolph Bias, Associate Professor, PhD 1978, UT - Austin; cognitive psychology
Luis Francisco-Revilla, Assistant Professor, PhD 2004, Texas A&M University; computer science
Gary Geisler, Assistant Professor, PhD 2003, University of North Carolina; information science
Unmil Karadkar, Lecturer, doctoral candidate, Texas A&M University; computer science
Yan Zhang, Assistant Professor, PhD 2009, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; information science