The Ph.D. in Human-Centered Design

Florida Tech has more than 30 years of experience educating engineering, science, technology, and management professionals to become skilled experts in a variety of unique and interdisciplinary fields. One such field is the growing discipline of human-centered design. With a PhD in human-centered design from Florida Tech, graduates prepare themselves to work in high-tech environments tackling complex challenges in product development, industrial design, integrated systems, and organizational analysis. This involves expertise in life-critical systems, modeling and simulation, human factors, usability and cognitive engineering, and more. With a focus on creativity, innovation, and sustainable solutions, graduates design, analyze, and evaluate complex interconnected systems for today's 21st century companies.

Experienced, Respected Faculty

Providing students with an understanding of the challenges, environments, and systems they will encounter on the job is the top priority for Florida Tech professors. Students in the PhD in the human-centered design program work closely with professors who use a highly customized curriculum for each student. This includes independent study, research, and fieldwork in a cross-disciplinary approach that encourages creative thinking for innovative solutions.

Specialize for a Competitive Edge

Students earning a PhD in human-centered design can specialize in a particular area of interest to further hone their expertise. This can include design areas such as cognitive engineering, advanced interaction media, modeling and simulation, organizational design and management, life-critical systems, or complexity analysis. As an emerging field, human-centered design is constantly evolving, offering opportunity in many areas of design, engineering research, and interactive complex product development.

Research Programs and High-Tech Facilities

Through the School of Human-Centered Design, Innovation, and Art, students earning a PhD in human centered design find a hands-on learning culture that supports real-world problem solving on the challenges in design, engineering, and technology. Students participate in research activities in aeronautics, space, nuclear energy, or education. Available laboratories and instrumentation facilities provide for in-depth studies in control, complex systems design, big data management, visualization (including 3D printing capabilities), tangible interactive objects, and development. Florida Tech is near commercial aircraft and adaptable spaceship cockpit simulators and an advanced interaction media laboratory, providing students with up-to-date equipment to conduct cutting-edge research.

Excellent Career Preparation

Human-centered design students work with some of the most well-respected names in science and technology including NASA, Boeing, SESAR (Europe), and Areva. Graduates are immediately ready to step into design and leadership roles at high-tech firms, advance in their current position, or start their own business. The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that jobs will remain steady for graduates with human-centered design expertise. Designers who work with precision instruments and medical equipment are some of the industries with higher-than-average job growth. Jobs can also be found in high-tech firms working on designing advanced cockpits, ergonomics, equipment usability, safety systems, control rooms, educational tools, simulators, and new living environments.