Graduate Degree Programs and Requirements
Master's Degree
This program requires
- 36 credit hours
- a first-year project
- thesis and defense (including a qualifying exam)
No practical experience is required. Also, there is no non-thesis option.
Completion time: two to three years
Online Master's Degree
36 credit hours including 3 to 6 credit hours capstone project , no practical experience required.
- Nonthesis option: yes
- Distance students only
- Completion time: two to four years
Doctorate Degree
This program requires
- 40-70 credit hours (determined by committee)
- a comprehensive exam
- dissertation and defense
- teaching a course
- internship or co-op is recommended
For the Ph.D. in Engineering Psychology student must complete an internship in an industrial, governmental, or other laboratory setting of at least three-months duration.
Completion time: two to three years after the Master's
Curriculum
CORE COURSES
Of the following courses, 3 are required for the Master's and 4 are required for the Ph.D.
- Learning
- Sensation and Perception
- Cognition
- Biopsychology
- Social Psychology
- Engineering Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- History and Systems
METHODS COURSES
Of the following courses, all are required for the Master's and all plus two additional statistics courses are required for the Ph.D.
- Quantitative Methods
- Experimental Design
- Experimental Statistics
ELECTIVE COURSES
- Human-Machine Systems
- Aviation Psychology
- Human-Computer Psychology
- Computer Methods
- Multivariate Statistics
NOTE
Courses from other departments including Experimental Statistics Department, Computer Science Department, etc can also be used as electives.
Careers
Our recent master's level graduates are employed with companies ranging from IBM to small private consulting companies. We frequently have more requests from industry contacts for graduates than we have students.
Our recent Ph.D. graduates have been employed in academia and industry. Alumni work at the University of Quebec, Georgia Tech, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, the Air Force Academy, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and the University of Michigan. Graduates in Cognitive and Engineering areas are typically employed in the computer industry, telecommunications, and aerospace. NMSU Psychology department graduates can be found at IBM, Microsoft, Dell, and Government agencies.
A recent survey shows that entry level salaries for Psychology Ph.D.'s in academic jobs is $50,000. In 2000, a survey of usability practioners in industry (the most common area of employment for our graduates) found an average salary of $70,000. Note that entry level salaries would be below this level.