Abstract
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).
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