What is the specialization PsychEng?
PsychEng is the Collaborative Master’s Specialization in Psychology and Engineering. This specialization involves the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (FASE) and the Department of Psychology (PSY) in the Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS), and is led by FASE.
Engineering involves the creative application of science to the design of systems, processes, structures and technologies. Psychology is a science that focuses on the mind and behavior of people and animals to understand individuals and groups across all levels of analyses, from the cellular to the cultural. The Psychology and Engineering Collaborative Specialization will draw students interested in contributing to the growing interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of psychology and engineering.
Participating Programs, Degrees and Names of Units include:
• Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.), Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE), Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
• Master of Arts (M.A.), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts & Science
How does the research work?
The PsychEng Collaborative Specialization serves masters-level students who are interested in the intersection of psychology and engineering by providing access to learning experiences that otherwise do not exist at the University of Toronto. Students will gain improved capacity to pursue, understand, discuss, and apply psychology to research in engineering, and to apply engineering to research in psychology. This specialization allows students to obtain a unique combination of competencies not otherwise available through a formal program, by completing related courses and immersion in a like-minded cross-disciplinary community, and by pursuing independent PsychEng-related research through projects that fit in areas including, but not limited to: Human-factors/human-centered engineering, Engineering design theory and methodology, Engineering-enabled psychology, Interactions between psychology and artificial intelligence, Psychology-informed operations research, Psychological and neurological health.
Participating Degree Programs and Affiliated Faculty Members
Participating MIE Faculty Members
J. Christopher Beck, Operations Research and Artificial Intelligence
Amy Bilton, Design for the Developing World
Mark Chignell, Applied Cognition and User Interface Design
Birsen Donmez, Human Factors and Transportation
Michael Grüninger, Information Engineering and Knowledge Representation
Greg A. Jamieson, Human Factors and Automation
Paul Milgram, Human Factors and Medicine
Goldie Nejat, Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction
Li Shu, Design Theory and Methodology
Participating Psychology Faculty Members
Morgan Barense, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience
Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience
Daphna Buchsbaum, Development and Perception/Cognition/Cognitive
Wil Cunningham, Social/Personality/Abnormal & Perception/Cognition/Cog. Neuro.
Katherine Duncan, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience
Susanne Ferber, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience
Amy Finn, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience/Development
Elizabeth Page-Gould, Social Cognition
Jason Plaks, Social/Personality/Abnormal
Jay Pratt, Perception/Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience
Graduate Researchers
Admission requirements
Applicants must be accepted into one of the participating graduate degree programs (M.A.Sc. in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering or M.A. in the Department of Psychology) before being accepted into the Collaborative Specialization.
In addition to satisfying the home degree admission requirements, applicants will provide a statement of purpose in which they describe their background or experience relating to engineering, psychology, and their intersection, and why they are interested in pursuing graduate studies in PsychEng.
Course List
Core Course
APS1305Y PsychEng Seminar Series
In addition to the core course, students must take 2 PsychEng electives, one of which must be from the non-home department.
Elective Courses
Please note that not all courses are not offered every year. Consult each unit’s website for details.
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
MIE1070: Intelligent Robots for Society
MIE1402: Experimental Methods in Human Factors Research
MIE1403: Analytical Methods in Human Factors Research
MIE1412: Human-Automation Interaction
MIE1415: Analysis and Design of Cognitive Work
MIE1505: Enterprise Modeling
MIE1510: Formal Techniques in Ontology Engineering
MIE1720: Creativity in Conceptual Design
KMD2001: Human Centred Design
Psychology
PSY1000 Directed Studies
Department of Psychology courses offered in the 5000 series (see Department for exclusions)
Additional Information
If you would like additional information about this specialization, please contact:
psych_eng@mie.utoronto.ca