The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society’s Education and Training Committee and the Early Career Committee identified the need to evaluate the effectiveness of graduate education in the field of human factors/ergonomics and identify areas requiring improvement. Consequently, a survey was constructed for this purpose. Fifty-two new professionals responded to the survey. While most of these individuals come from the traditional fields of psychology and engineering, many represented multiple disciplines including architecture, safety, IT, and kinesiology. New professionals made heavy use of online non-refereed sources as well as professional websites. While no particular topic in their college experience was deemed superfluous, they indicated a need for design experiences, exposure to the processes used in the “hard “ engineering disciplines, how to communicate as a member of an interdisciplinary team. The most common academic areas that the respondents wished had been addressed in greater depth during their educational experience were research methods and statistics, application of knowledge learned, and various aspects of design. The survey also validated the Ergonomist Formation Model of the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE).
In this article, we outline the need for and role of undergraduate human factors education, describe several activities for teaching human factors, and identify the benefits associated with offering the course. The results of a survey of psychology undergraduates (N = 111) revealed that they were unfamiliar with, yet interested in, human factors issues. A human factors course can inform students about the profession, meet their interests, and provide a variety of useful skills. We present 6 successful hands-on activities for teaching about human factors. Students reported that they enjoyed these activities and gained a greater understanding of the principles. Students also noted that the course increased their knowledge about the profession and provided new perspectives for examining systems and applying the principles.
During the period from January 2002 through December 2002, the Placement Service of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society distributed announcements describing 141 new positions available for human factors and ergonomics professionals. This paper describes placement opportunities for HF and ergonomics professionals in Industry and Government/Military (N=117). The attributes of the position descriptions examined include: employment sector, major field of study, degree requirements, required work experience, salary, geographic location, travel, and areas of expertise.
The type of industry seeking most employees was Consulting at 32%. The most frequently specified major field of study was Human Factors (N=73). Forty-nine percent of positions describe the master's degree as the minimum requirement. The geographical areas with the most jobs were East Central (N=20) and the Mid Atlantic (N=17). Finally, the area of expertise most frequently requested by employers was Human Computer Interaction (N=23) and Human Factors/Ergonomics (N=32) was the most commonly specified job expertise/function.
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