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What is Human Factors?
Human Factors focuses on the interaction between humans and their environment,  including products; equipment; facilities; and procedures.  Human Factors professionals increase human performance, safety, and job satisfaction, and improve such interactions by applying the knowledge of human behavior, capabilities, and limitations.  More in-depth information about the Human Factors program at the University of Idaho can be found at http://www.uidaho.edu/human-factors
Human Factors at U of I
Founded in 1984, the Human Factors Emphasis is an interdisciplinary effort between human factors specialists in the Department of Psychology and Mechanical Engineering. The program consists of a broad array of graduate courses, including:
Training and Performance Ergonomics and Biomechanics Human-Computer Interaction Advanced Human Factors Advanced courses in Statistics and Research Methods.
Graduate students in the Human Factors Program participate in the University of Idaho Chapter of the national Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The Chapter sponsors presentations by human factors specialists from the U.S. and Canada, and organizes field trips to regional human factors organizations.
Our graduates commonly obtain human factors positions in industry (e.g., Battelle, Diamond Technology Partners, IBM, Lockheed, Martin Rockwell Collins, Microsoft, Boeing, and Intel), engage in private consulting, or continue their academic studies in a Ph.D. program.
Degree Requirements
Students must meet requirements at three levels for the M.S. in Psychology:
University of Idaho Graduate College requirements Psychology Department M.S. requirements (30 units plus other requirements for thesis or non-thesis options) Human Factors emphasis required coursework shown below.
The Psychology Department admits students under two options:
Non-thesis option: students must complete 30 credits of approved coursework, and pass a written exam covering coursework, research methods, and data analysis. Exams are completed at the end of the student's coursework. Note: off-campus students are admitted only under this option. Thesis option: Being accepted into the program under the thesis option requires special permission at the time of program application.
Required Coursework: (both options)
Psyc 444 Sensation & Perception* Psyc 446 Engineering Psychology * Psyc 512 Research Methods Psyc 513 Advanced Research Methods Psyc 552 Ergonomics and Biomechanics
Psyc 561 Human-Computer Interaction
Psyc 562 Advanced Human Factors
*If you have taken equivalent classes as part of an undergraduate curriculum, you may petition the faculty to waive these requirements.   Additional electives can then be used to fill in the credits

FAQs

• What type of positions do graduates obtain?
Our graduates commonly obtain human factors positions in industry (e.g., Battelle, Diamond Technology Partners, IBM, Boeing, Intel), engage in private consulting, or continue their academic studies in a Ph.D. prgram (e.g., New Mexico State University, University of Iowa).

• What if I haven’t completed all of the undergraduate course requirements?
Students who haven’t completed all of the undergraduate course requirements may sometimes be admitted. They are expected to complete the deficiency courses before beginning graduate level classes. This means that students should expect to take up to a year longer than they would otherwise.

• How do I know if my undergraduate courses will count for the admission requirements? If you have taken courses that have roughly the same title as the courses listed under admission requirements, you are probably OK (even if you took them several years ago). If you took a different course, such as Learning, it will probably not be considered equivalent. If you are unsure, the quickest way to find out is to inquire using e-mail--see below.

• What types of internships will be available?
The University of Idaho faculty has associations with a variety of businesses in the area, including Potlatch Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, NASA, and Boeing Aircraft. We have been able to place all of our human factors graduate students who desired them into internships.

Core Faculty

Brian Dyre, Associate Professor (Ph.D., 1993, University of Illinois). Interests include visual psychophysics, mathematical modeling of visual processes, virtual display and perception in virtual environments...
http://www.uidaho.edu/~bdyre/.

Steffen Werner, Associate Professor (Ph.D., 1994, University of Göttingen, Germany). Interests include spatial cognition, virtual environments, high level vision, mental imagery, human factors and applied cognitive psychology
http://www.uidaho.edu/~swerner/

Ernesto Bustamante, Assistant Professor (Ph.D., 2007, Old Dominion University). Interests include signal detection theory, automation, cognitive decision making and decision support tools.

Research Facilities

The program maintains a human factors research facility equipped with many personal computers (IBM PC and Macintosh) and access to campus mainframes and the Internet.

Head-mounted, virtual reality technologies are available, as is equipment for simulating head-up displays (HUDs).

Additional equipment is available to measure monitoring, vigilance, and physiological performance.

Externally funded research provides continued expansion of these facilities.