Pathway to Success: User Experience Researcher / Usability Specialist / Usability Engineer
UMSI Courses
Mastery Courses Affiliated:
- UX Research and Design
- User-Centered Agile Development
- Developing Social Computing
- Social User Experience
Fulfill all MSI requirements. Strongly recommended courses include:
- SI 501: Contextual Inquiry and Consulting Foundations
- SI 506: Programming I
- SI 507: Intermediate Programming
- SI 529: Online Communities
- SI 531: Human Interaction in Information Retrieval
- SI 544: Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis
- SI 551: Information Behavior and Search Experience
- SI 552: Technology & Accessibility
- SI 622: Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation
- SI 623: Research Methods for Information Professionals
- SI 658: Information Architecture
Elective courses include:
- SI 538: Citizen Interaction Design
- SI 540: Privacy in Information Technology
- SI 554: Consumer Health Informatics
- SI 561: Natural Language Processing
- SI 601: Data Manipulation
- SI 606: Personal Informatics Design
- SI 612: Pervasive Interaction Design
- SI 618: Data Manipulation and Analysis
- SI 631: Agile Software Development for Content Management Systems
- SI 649: Information Visualization
- SI 664: Database Application Design
- SI 686: User-Generated Content
Field Internships & Experience
Sites where UMSI students have recently completed relevant internships include:
- Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA
- Applied Safety & Ergonomics, Ann Arbor, MI
- Boeing, Seattle, WA
- Hewlett-Packard Labs, Palo Alto, CA
- IDEO, Palo Alto, CA
- Intel, Hillsboro, OR
- Johnson Controls, Plymouth, MI
- Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Nokia, Espoo, PA
- Samsung Research & Development Center, South Korea
- Whirlpool Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI
Career Success
Recent grads have accepted positions in this area that include:
- Assistant Director, Usability and Accessibility Center, Michigan State University
- Human Factors Associate, IDEO
- Human Factors Design Engineer, St. Jude Medical Center
- Human Factors Engineer, IBM
- Human Factors Engineer, Elsevier
- Human Factors Engineer, MITRE Corporation
- Human Factors Engineer, Intel
- Human Factors/ Usability Specialist, Whirlpool Corporation
- Human Systems Analyst, Aptima, Inc.
- Senior Industrial Engineer, Motorola
- User Experience Researcher, Microsoft Corporation
- User Experience Researcher, Google
- User Experience Researcher, Kno Inc.
- User Experience Researcher, Facebook
The Pathways highlighted in this section are suggested routes to desired career goals. Other routes through the MSI curriculum are also possible. We'll advise you on your selection of courses, internships, and activities to support your career goals.