Human-Systems Engineering (HSE) Track

• About Human-Systems Engineering
• Human-Systems Engineering Track
• Human-Systems Engineering Courses
• Sample ESD SM Program of Study
• Related Research Labs

About Human-Systems Engineering

The Human-Systems Engineering track within ESD focuses on the characteristics of people—including organizational, social, and cognitive—throughout the system conception, development, validation, and operation processes. With the explosion of automated technology and resulting complex technological systems, the need to support human interaction with these systems is reaching critical proportions. For example, human error in aviation accounts for almost 80% of accidents, and human error in healthcare is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. A significant contributor in these cases is human interaction with technology. Pilots are often confused by automated mode changes and medical staff program devices incorrectly, sometimes resulting in patient death. With the arrival of highly automated technologies in cars such as automated cruise control and telematics, human interaction with complex technology has become an almost everyday occurrence for a large section of the population. Recognizing that human interaction with complex technology has both individual and group elements, there is a need for a formal research program that forms key questions and develops principled methodologies, including system design and process interventions, to address these questions.

> top

Human-Systems Engineering Track

Areas of focus in the HSE track include: human interaction with transportation systems (rail, aviation, automobile), human interaction with robotic/autonomous systems, process control, and heterogeneous systems which contain elements of more than one system (such as network-centric operations). Example domains include air traffic control, military command and control of manned and/or unmanned systems, first responder systems, and driving interactions.
For more information about the HSE track, contact Missy Cummings at missyc "at" mit.edu.

With their advisor, students construct an HSE program of study that fits within the already established TPP, ESD SM, and PhD program requirements.

• TPP students construct their Engineering Systems Concentration using Human-Systems courses,
• ESD SM students fulfill their Systems Theory, Systems Policy, and Systems Evaluation requirements using Human-Systems courses,
• doctoral students satisfy their domain, methodology, and applied engineering systems requirements using Human-Systems courses.

A unifying feature of the HSE track is that all students, no matter their program, write a thesis based on HSE research. They also take the following subjects:

• either ESD.756/16.470 Statistical Methods in Experimental Design or ESD.86/15.078 Models, Data, & Inference for Socio-Technical Systems
  • Note for doctoral students: ESD.86 is a required subject for all doctoral students.
• and ESD.774/16.422 Human Supervisory Control of Automated Systems.

How these subjects fit into the student’s TPP, ESD SM, or PhD Program requirements depends upon the student’s program. For instance, a PhD student may take ESD.774 and apply the subject to her domain requirement, while a TPP student simply takes ESD.774 as elective outside of his regular TPP program. For more information on program requirements, refer directly to the program’s website. For more information on the HSE track, contact Sally Chapman, sallyc "at" mit.edu.

> top

Human-Systems Engineering Courses

Following are some examples of Human-Systems Engineering Courses:

• ESD.103/17.310/STS.482 Science, Technology and Public Policy
• ESD.129 / 16.891 Space Policy Seminar
• ESD.132 / 15.655 Law, Technology, & Public Policy
• ESD.163 / 22.812 Managing Nuclear Technology
• ESD.21/1.200/11.544 Transportation Systems Analysis
• ESD.210/1.201/11.545 Introduction to Transportation Systems
• ESD.225 / 1.252 / 11.540 Urban Transportation Planning
• ESD.226 / 1.258 / 11.541 Public Transportation Systems
• ESD.30/16.895/STS.471 Engineering Apollo
• ESD.340 Theory of Systems Architecture
• ESD.342 Network Representations of Complex Engineering Systems
• ESD.355/16.355 Concepts in the Engineering of Software
• ESD.37 The Human Side of Technology
• ESD.565/15.565 Integrating Information Systems
• ESD.68 Communications and Information Policy
• ESD.72/1.155/2.963/3.577/6.938/10.816/16.862/22.82 Engineering Risk-Benefit Analysis
• ESD.751/15.064 Engineering Probability and Statistics
• ESD.753/15.077 Statistical Learning and Data Mining
• ESD.755/15.074 Statistical Reasoning and Data Modeling
• ESD.77/16.888 Multidisciplinary System Design Optimization
• ESD.773/16.453 Human Factors Engineering
• ESD.775/16.475 Human-Computer Interface Design Colloquium
• ESD.863/16.863 System Safety
• 6.231 Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control
• 6.831 User Interface Design and Implementation
• 6.833 The Human Intelligence Enterprise
• 6.834/16.412 Cognitive Robotics
• 6.873/HST.951 Biomedical Decision Support
• 9.012 Cognitive Science
• 9.660 Computational Cognitive Science
• 15.521 Management Accounting and Control
• 15.844 Applied Individual Psychology
• 16.413 Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making
• MAS.551/4.556 Design Without Boundaries
• MAS.654/9.343 Cognitive Architectures
• MAS.750 Human-Robot Interaction

> top

Sample ESD Program of Study

This sample ESD SM program of study within the HSE track is intended merely as an illustration of how such a program could be satisfactorily constructed. The shape of any particular student’s program of study will be driven by her research objectives and must be developed and approved with the input of his advisor and ESD’s Academic Office.

> top

Related research labs

• MIT Humans and Automation Lab (HAL)
• MIT International Center for Air Transportation
• Man Vehicle Laboratory
• MIT AgeLab

> top