Engineering/Human Factors Psychology

[JRA21]

Hello! So I've been doing my own research in the different fields and careers in psychology after a graduates degree, both MS and PhD, when I stumbled upon this one, Engineering Psychology. On the APA website, http://www.apa.org/action/science/human-factors/education-training.aspx it basically states it combines the obvious, psychology and engineering into one career, which I believe would be an excellent career path!

However, I was confused as to the lack of further information I was able to find. I'm currently and undergraduate in Psychology, and even my adviser didn't have much information for me. She said that from what I was explaining it is more recognized as Human Factors Psychology, but from that she said these days Human Factors is a dying field and moving more towards I/O, but from what I understand I/O is more business based and Human Factors is more research based. Correct me if I'm wrong please, I would just like more information on Engineering Psychology and how exactly to head down this path. It sounds like HF and Engineering go hand in hand with Experimental, so that just makes me more confused.

Anything anyone can bring to the table will help! I'm becoming nervous to keep heading down the psychology path anymore because all the negativity I hear about actually getting a job after graduating even with a Masters. So on that note, any positive remarks on careers in psychology with a Masters or any tips would be great! Thanks in advance!

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[aly cat]

My husband is a Human Factors Psychologist, but at the PhD level so I'm not sure I can offer any insight to the masters questions. That said, to my knowledge, HF is nowhere near a dying field-- they are really just getting started. The ridiculous amount of grant money given by NASA, DoD, and others also speaks to the strength of the field. My husband trained in a lab in which the PI was involved in both HF and IO research.. so he got training in both and has worked in positions that sort of blend the two. HF is notoriously hard to explain so for illustrative purposes, I'll list some areas that friends have studied: Situational Awareness especially when a human is interacting with machines (i.e., cock pits); team stress particularly during high-pressure situations (e.g., long duration space flight, medical operating teams, etc.); designing and evaluating serious games for the purposes of creating training programs, simulations, and clinically-related interventions; research related to vehicle headlight efficiency and safety; the list goes on but these were some things that came to mind.

In general, human factors PhD programs are a year or two shorter than clinical or counseling and their starting salaries (in my experience) are almost always higher. PhD programs are pretty much always funded (tuition paid + stipend + usually health insurance). With regard to the job market, many from his cohort have been recruited for positions before they'd even completed their dissertations. The HF psychologists we know work as consultants, professors, and in industry conducting applied research across a variety of fields. If this is really something you are interested in pursuing I think you should go for it. PM me if you have questions about his program. Good luck!

 

[sockit]

There was once an extremely short minute when I thought I might be interested in this sort of thing, during which I encountered the concept of systems engineering. I think it's a kind of mirror discipline, in that the focus seems to be more explicitly about using computational modelling of systems and some aspects of human factors (perhaps with an emphasis on organizational dynamics?) towards optimizing manufacturing processes ( vs thinking about end-users, I think?). I think people can just go right to work with the MEng, which is an applied degree, and many programs will accept applicants with non-engineering degrees. sample program

My impression is that, for now, the main people who can and want to pay systems engineers, and I think HCI and HF psychologists as well, are military organizations, the auto, aviation and transport industries, and weapons manufacturers. I could be wrong though. Hang on, here, a list of employers of Cornell grads.

From friends who work in smaller companies that make different kinds of things, I understand that oftentimes, it's designers, and programmers and engineers specializing in the more traditional branches of engineering who wind up taking on HF-type responsibilities (employers figure they're getting a two-fer - design students are often offered a human factors class or two, and it's kind of built into their discipline, if you think about it). But if you definitely aren't interested in psychology psychology, and have an interest and talent in design or sciences, maybe one of those applied design or engineering fields might be something to consider? Product designers get to think about usability, in more intuitive ways than I gather is available to actual human factors types.