HFE has applications ranging from clothing and living spaces to business processes, the design of health care processes and technology, computer interfaces, and spacecraft cockpits. The program’s interdisciplinary curriculum has graduate faculty representing the Colleges of Design; Science and Engineering; Liberal Arts; Education and Human Development; and Public Health.
“The program at the U gives you flexibility and allows students to tailor classes around their interests. You can choose to focus on a specific domain, or stay general and gain a variety of knowledge.”
—Simon Ozbek (MS, Human Factors & Ergonomics)
Our faculty and students’ research cover a vast range of topics. Past thesis projects have investigated how to design haptic technology to augment virtual reality and even the impact that weather and infrastructure design has on the mobility of people with impaired vision.
Human Factors & Ergonomics in the Twin Cities
Creative thinkers from the University of Minnesota are responsible for GORE-TEX®, Post-it® Notes, several tasty new apple varieties, Ziagen—the standard drug used worldwide to treat HIV/AIDS, and an improved CPR method. Over the past five years, inventions of University researchers have generated nearly $274 million in revenue for Minnesota. This legacy demonstrates the value we, at both the university and collegiate level, place on interdisciplinary research, human-centered design, and relationships to key industries in the Twin Cities.
Students in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Program build upon this legacy by collaborating across disciplines on innovative research projects to produce human-centered design work.
Our faculty and students’ research cover a vast range of topics. Theses have investigated how to design haptic technology to augment virtual reality and even the impact that weather and infrastructure design has on the mobility of people with impaired vision.
