Overview
The Medical Devices and Systems Certificate Program develops and enhances skills in medical/health technology assessment, validation, and overall design. The program is open to individuals with a solid bachelor's degree in a relevant area (or with industry experience) and is especially useful for human factors professionals, user interface designers, and those who work in the medical device industry.
This certificate is offered in collaboration with the Department of Psychology, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the Department of Occupational Therapy.
Program Highlights
The certificate program consists of four courses, many available as evening classes. Two of these courses include Medical Fundamentals and Human Factors in Medical Technology. Electives may be chosen from various departments including mechanical engineering, psychology, computer science, occupational therapy, and more.
The human factors program is distinguished by its opportunities to work closely with faculty every step of the way. Students have the chance to collaborate with and learn from some of the most renowned experts in the country, all while seamlessly transitioning from graduate studies to a full-time career.
Certificate students interested in earning a master's degree can often apply these certificate courses toward a master's degree in human factors engineering.
Career Outcomes
A widely cited report published in 2016 suggests at least 250,000 patients die each year due to medical error, making it the third leading cause of death in the USA. A large percentage of these deaths are related to poor user interface design.
Recognizing the medical error "epidemic," the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now requires the manufacturers to Class II and III devices to apply human factors engineering throughout the device development process and validate that representative users can operate them safely.
This requirement has increased the demand for professionals in the field of human factors engineering who have special knowledge about the design and evaluation of medical technology. The Human Factors Engineering Program at Tufts University can prepare you to enter this emerging field.
Faculty
Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering
Jason
Rife
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Chair, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
navigation, safety-critical transportation systems, state estimation, human-robot interaction
Professor of the Practice
Daniel
Hannon
Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
human factors, airspace systems
Professor of the Practice
James
Intriligator
Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Human Factors Engineering, Innovation, Design Thinking, Human Machine System Design, Robotics, Machine Learning, Perception, Psychology
Associate Teaching Professor
Gary
Leisk
Associate Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
machine design, nondestructive testing
Professor of the Practice
Michael
Wiklund
Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
human factors
Luisa
Chiesa
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
sustainable energy, superconducting materials, materials science
Jeffrey
Guasto
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy
Research Interests:
biophysics and soft matter, microscale fluid mechanics and transport phenomena, microfluidic devices
Marc
Hodes
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
heat transfer, apparent slip, thermal management of electronics, mass transfer in supercritical fluids and thermoelectricity, material science
Mark
Kachanov
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests:
Mechanics of materials; effective properties of heterogeneous materials; microstructure-property relationships; applications to material science
Assistant Teaching Professor
Erica
Kemmerling
Assistant Teaching Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Fluid mechanics, flow in the human body, hemodynamics, aneurysms, heart development, flow in tumors, cardiac assist devices
Douglas
Matson
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
solidification processes, thermal manufacturing, machine design, materials science
Professor of the Practice
Pratap
Misra
Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
GPS, emerging satellite navigation systems
John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Chris
Rogers
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
John R. Beaver Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Engineering Education, Human Robot Interaction, Mechanical Engineering, Music Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Anil
Saigal
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
materials engineering, materials science, manufacturing processes, quality control
Jivko
Sinapov
Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Artificial Intelligence, Developmental Robotics, Computational Perception, Robotic Manipulation, Machine Learning, Human-Robot and Human-Computer Interaction
Holly
Taylor
Professor, Psychology
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Spatial Cognition, Language, Memory
Professor and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Thomas
Vandervelde
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor, Physics & Astronomy
Research Interests:
Interaction of light with matter, physics of nanostructures and interfaces, metamaterials, material science, plasmonics, and surfactants, semiconductor photonics and electronics, epitaxial crystal growth, materials and devices for energy and infrared applications.
Associate Professor and Stacey and Robert Morse Fellow
Kristen
Wendell
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Stacey and Robert Morse Fellow, Mechanical Engineering
Associate Professor, Education
Research Interests:
learning sciences, engineering education, design practices, design discourse, project-based learning
Robert
White
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication, modeling, and testing. Particularly acoustic MEMS (microphones, ultrasound), and aerodynamic measurement technologies (skin friction sensors, aeroacoustic sensors). Acoustics, vibrations, dynamics and controls. Electromechanical systems including robotics. Finite element methods and system modeling. Electronics for measurement. Mechanical measurements.
Professor of the Practice
Michael
Zimmerman
Professor of the Practice, Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests:
novel polymer electrolytes for batteries, liquid crystal polymers, composite materials, materials science