|
Overview of the Engineering Psychology Program
An
engineering psychologist is an
applied scientist who develops knowledge concerning the abilities
and limitations of humans to sense, store, and process information,
and to act. This knowledge is applied to the design, use, and
maintenance of human/machine systems. Depending on its goals, the
system is then optimized with respect to human performance. The
environmental factors affecting system performance are recognized as
important and are considered systematically. When relevant data are
not available, the engineering psychologist must uncover it through
research efforts. This requires considerable skill in experimental
design and quantitative methodology.
The engineering psychologist is primarily an applied experimental
psychologist. For this reason, the foundation areas of study are the
various content of general-experimental psychology. Specialized work
in engineering psychology is represented by four areas of
application: methods in human factors research, including
human-computer interaction; effects of environmental factors and
stressors; perceptual/motor aspects of systems design; and human
performance and skill. Engineering psychology research involves such
topics as display-control relationships, environmental design,
information coding and processing, psychomotor performance, and
human-computer interaction.
 The environmental
factors area is concerned with the effects on human performance of
such variables as noise, lighting, motion, and hazardous
environmental ambients. The
human performance area is concerned with the evaluation of human
performance and its information-processing components.
Interdisciplinary research projects concerned with these and various
other topics are also conducted in conjunction with the
Graphics,
Visualization and Usability Center (GVU).
The engineering psychology graduate program has been given full
accreditation by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
The Georgia Tech student chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society represents students interested in human-machine interaction
issues. The chapter regularly sponsors talks by human factors
professionals to inform students and faculty about human performance
issues in real-world environments.
|