Contact: Bob Ratliff
The psychology department at Mississippi State University now is offering a new doctoral-degree program in cognitive science.
First of its kind in the mid-South, the program recently was approved by the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning.
Cognitive scientists study how the mind works in making decisions, solving problems and remembering the past, according to department head Stephen Klein. Career applications include artificial intelligence, human factors engineering, robotics, linguistics, and consumer behavior.
"Our goal in creating this program is to train applied cognitive scientists for business, industry, engineering, and other applied work settings," Klein said. "MSU's strengths in science, business, engineering, computing, and information and manufacturing technology make it well suited to become a center for graduate training in the field."
Klein said similar programs are proving successful at Georgia Tech, Brown and Indiana universities.
Currently, cognitive science graduates are serving as product-design consultants for consumer giants General Mills and Procter & Gamble, as engineering consultants for the Boeing Co. and NASA; and as software usability analysts for IBM, among others.
Law firms, advertising agencies and companies in the health care and pharmaceutical industry also are hiring graduates in the field, Klein said.