Every day, students, parents, teachers and prospective students explore the Web site of the School of Engineering; most, however, are unaware that the site was actually an assignment for a little-known group of undergraduate engineering students a few years ago. The site was designed by engineering psychology majors, who placed an intense emphasis on the psychology behind human thinking.
Engineering psychology is just one of several little-known programs of study at Tufts that take students off the beaten path of academia. Other such majors include international letters and visual studies (ILVS) and geoengineering. Although most of these programs remain small, they are producing cutting-edge research which the faculty and students behind them believe reflects a need for alternative academia in a changing world.
The concept of an engineering psychology major for undergraduates, which examines the psychological aspects of human interactions with machines, was pioneered at Tufts nearly 40 years ago. Less than five other schools in the country offer the major to undergraduates.
The major covers a broad range of topics, from web design to biomedical devices to the way in which a store should be organized.
Despite the age and significance of the Tufts program, however, its director, Caroline Cao, acknowledges that it remains a small one.
She attributes its small size to a lack of publicity about the major, which would be needed to combat the fact that most prospective engineering students tend to direct themselves toward more traditional engineering fields. "I think the problem is not enough people know about it or only find out about it later on when too many problems would be brought up by transferring," Cao said.
Since engineering psychology is a relatively new science, Cao believes that the Tufts program is in a position of great opportunity for success and discovery.
"It's gaining traction and is an exciting and cutting-edge area to be in," Cao said. "It's a growing area with high impact that affects everybody."
Hunter Kopald, a junior majoring in engineering psychology, first found out about the major in his Introduction to Psychology class freshman year when he was enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences. After deciding to major in the program, he transferred into the School of Engineering in order to delve more deeply into math, science and computer science.
Kopald is most interested in the technical side of engineering psychology. "When you have humans interacting with machines, there is a gap humans must overcome," he said.
Kopald hopes that better work in engineering psychology could hopefully eliminate what he calls the technology paradox -- the idea that growth in technology simultaneously makes life easier and more difficult.
Cao, on the other hand, devotes most of her research to medical issues, specifically those concerning minimally invasive surgeries that use tools and cameras with very small incisions to perform precise surgeries. During these remote surgeries, surgeons have a limited degree of freedom and can't see or feel what they are working on, so they must perform the surgery as if they are "playing a video game," Cao said, by watching a monitor representing the patient.
Minimally invasive surgeries are performed with tools "like chopsticks that you can't really move," Cao said. "We want to design tools with more degrees of freedom and feedback and 3D perception monitors to allow surgeons to perform surgery more naturally."
Another small program, the ILVS major, offers students a chance to explore the study of international literature and visual culture in an unconventional, self-directed way that reflects changing society.
Originally, the major was created to be like a comparative literature major where students could study literature in multiple languages. However, the numerous faculty members who met to create the major decided the addition of film and visual studies was necessary for analyzing modern society.
"We designed this major with the future in mind," Charles Inouye, co-creator of ILVS, said in an e-mail to the Daily. "The world is becoming increasingly visual in its expression of reality, so we made this strategic adjustment."
Joel Rosenberg, the curriculum's other co-creator, credits the unique nature of the program to Tufts' commitment to global education. "I think Tufts allowed us the freedom to create this major because Tufts is very committed to international curricula, where the diversity of the world is a big preoccupation at Tufts," he said. "This major is exactly tailor-made to that aspect of Tufts, so I found the reaction of the faculty to be very receptive."
Senior Ellen Watkiss, a dual-degree student at Tufts and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, explained that the flexibility of the major gives it a great deal of potential, but that students must have an idea of what they want to do with it. "I think [ILVS] is a great opportunity," she said. "You need to have self-direction to know what you want to get out of it."
Watkiss has used her ILVS major to fuse her interests in politics and art. She incorporated her studies of the USA PATRIOT Act into an expandable artist book that she spread out across a whole hallway at the SMFA, calling attention to the sheer length of the legislation.
Her Arabic and Islamic studies courses also influenced her to formulate the Arabic T-Shirt Project (www.arabictshirtproject.com). Watkiss' shirts display Arabic writing and are meant to engage post-Sept. 11 Americans with the Arabic language she studies.
Geoengineering is another field growing in impact and importance. In a world where environmental stakes run increasingly high, geoengineers handle problems of gravity such as hazardous waste, contaminated water supply, landslides and energy usability.
"People with combined expertise in geology and engineering have a lot to offer today, and hopefully, students see that," said Lewis Edgers, coordinator of the geoengineering minor.
The geoengineering minor is offered to students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences who wish to take classes at the School of Engineering in addition to the geology classes they take though the College of Arts and Sciences.
"The geoengineering minor is an example of an opportunity provided by the School of Engineering to students all across Tufts," Edgers said. "One of the things that's nice about Tufts is the opportunity to do interdisciplinary things like this."
