Industrial & Human Factors Engineering

What is Industrial and Human Factors Engineering?

Human factors is a body of information about human abilities, human limitations, and other human characteristics that are relevant to design. Industrial and Human Factors Engineering (IHE) is the application of human factors information to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use. Students will study relevant characteristics of human beings to be able to successfully design systems that integrate humans and machines or tools. Some specialized areas of study include human computer interaction (HCI), ergonomics, safety, usability engineering, human perception, human cognition, and engineering psychology.

Why WSU's Industrial and Human Factors Engineering Program?

The BIE Department offers both a Masters in Engineering Degree and Doctoral focus area in IHE. The Masters program has a non-thesis alternative in addition to the traditional thesis option. The department offers two main tracks of courses: Human Computer Interaction and Systems Modeling and Human Factors Ergonomic Engineering. Both tracks offer hands-on courses in state-of-the-art research facilities.

Career Opportunities

There are vast career opportunities for a human factors engineer including prospects in the various government agencies, industrial research and development, and consulting firms.

Master Course-Option Focus Areas:

Ergonomic Engineering

Human Systems Integration

Logistics and Supply Chain

Systems Modeling

Neuroengineering

Degree Requirements:

Minimum 30 semester hours

Minimum 15 hours of 7000 level or above from BIE Department.

Maximum 8 hours thesis

BME or IHE 6010 - Ethics in Engineering Research & Practice

Minimum 6 hours of BIE Department approved courses with a mathematics or statistics content.